Our Tree Of Memories

As I mentioned last week we had to buy a new tree for our basement because the old one was too tall. The poor little star couldn’t fit on top! After getting a smokin’ deal on boxing day we finally set up the new tree last Sunday.

The upstairs tree is the formal “pretty” tree. It has all  the ornaments that we bought and that really don’t have any significant meaning to us.

The new tree is going to be our fun family tree. Filled with ornaments that we got on vacation (every vacation we go on has an ornament), ones that were given or made for us.

It was fun putting up the ornaments, one at a time, and remembering the people or experiences that represented these ornaments.

Santa in an inner tube wearing Hawaiian printed swimming trucks! This is the ornament that we purchased on our trip to Hawaii! It actually makes me think of the trolley rides down from our hotel to the shopping street. It’s where we purchased this ornament but I loved the ride on the trolley near the ocean.

 

The next ornament is actually a funny story. Ryan and I took a small summer vacation too visit the 1000 Islands and then take it Upper Canada Village. At 1000 Islands (and Bolt Castle) we did the tour and I saw some beautiful ornaments but I thought I would wait, thinking that Upper Canada Village would have beautiful handcrafted ones.

Out for supper on our trip.

Well they didn’t. Not even one. I was kind of bummed. A short while later my friend, Sara, mentioned that her and her husband Graham were going to go do the 1000 Island tour. I begged for Sara to pick me up a Christmas ornament. About a week later Sara handed me the 1000 Island souvenir bag contained one beautiful magnet…..woops! ha ha! We still laugh about it and I turned the magnet into an ornament. It is definitely the ornament on the tree with the best story!

The next ornament will always make me think of a beautiful wedding on the beach. It was an epic trip with a great group of friends down south to celebrate and watch the marriage of Kerry-Lynn and Jeff.

Again, I had trouble finding a Christmas ornament and finally I had to get creative. I loved these little maraca key chains that they were selling. So, I bought one and removed the key chain part and put some thread through! Now, it works perfectly as a Christmas tree ornament and a great reminder of the awesome time we had in Cuba.

Then there’s this ornament…..

You would think that this ornament reminds me of our trip to New York, right? Well, it does. Sort of. It reminds me of the day that I gave Ryan the tickets to New York for his birthday. Little did I know…he had a bigger surprise for me!

This is our newest trip ornament!

This ornament I searched long and high for when we went to visit friends Josh and Amanda in Calgary. In fact, Amanda and I drove out there together!

It was an awesome trip but I was having such a hard time finding the perfect ornament. On our last night there Amanda surprised me with a birthday present which contained the special ornament to remind me of our trip.

There’s also other special ones like this one Faith made me:

Or this one that Ryan’s Aunt Shirley and Katelyn gave me last year.

Not to mention this guy that Jilly got me the first Christmas that I was home from out west.

Our tree is pretty empty because we are still starting our lives out together! But, as years go on we will add more ornaments that represent that time in our life.

Each ornament on this “family” tree has a story to tell. As I unwrap each one carefully before putting it on the Christmas tree I take a moment to remember what experiences and people remind us of that certain ornament. They are all very special to me.

Happy Friday!

xo