Wednesday, December 7, 2011

My favorite Christmas tree ornaments

We put up our Christmas tree last week, having a wonderful time going through ornaments and telling stories associated with them. I wanted to do a post about some of my favorite ornaments. Brian has some "business to take care of" in his current video game (Red Dead Revolver), so he didn't have time to help with his post. Otherwise no doubt there would be other ornaments on the list. So these are just my favorites.

This is my puffin ornament. Seth and Michelle got him for me on a trip they took to Seward. He reminds me of the time when I first moved to Alaska in 2003 and Mom, Dad, Nate, Tammy, Jen, Seth, Michelle, and I were all in the area. It was a special time with lots of family activities (including Family Funday Sundays)! Crazy puffin- he got all tangled up in Christmas lights.
This is our black lab ornament that Grandma Platt gave to Brian and me the first Christmas after we were married. It reminds me how exciting it was when Mattie finally arrived in Fairbanks from South Dakota (after many flight delays) and how important Mattie and Dawson are to us. They've kept me company through a lot of lonely nights when Brian was at work. They're such good dogs. We were very excited when we opened this ornament- it looks a lot like Mattie!
This is one of our newer ornaments. My friend Jennifer in Iowa gave this ornament to little Philip before we left to come back home to Alaska. Noah's Arc is Jennifer's favorite bible story, so she thought Philip needed this ornmanet. It reminds me of the wonderful friends we made during our Iowa adventure, especially those at the First United Methodist Church. Philip had many friends in the nursery and they were sad to see him go. We were sad to leave too. I wish we could have taken the nursery with us! This is one of Philip's first ornaments! I know he's little yet, but the Noah's Arc song is his favorite. We sing it everyday!
This is a white Lenox dove that Mom and Dad Platt gave to us while we were in Iowa. When we putting up our tree there for our first Christmas we didn't have enough ornaments to decorate the whole tree, so I asked for ornaments as a Christmas gift. This is just a beautiful ornament that reminds me of a time when we didn't have enough memories to fill a tree. I also think it is a lovely symbol of the purity of Christ and the sacrific God made for us sending his Son to save humanity.
This is our holiday pickle. Brian and I picked out this ornament the first fall after we were married on the coast in Oregon (when we were spending Thanksgiving with Brian's family). It reminds me of the hearing about the German tradition of the Christmas tree pickle for the first time from my siter-in-law Laura, the wonderful times we had on the coast with Brian's family, and the cute Christmas tree shop we visited each time we've traveled to Oregon for Thanksgiving.
This is a little, locally made cabin ornament that I bought after Brian and I got married. It reminds me of the little cabin that was our first home together in North Pole. This ornaments actually looks a lot like our cabin.
This is a Christmas ornament that my dear friend Naomi made me the first year that Brian and I were dating- in 2004! I guess she thought the relationship would last- eventhough we had only been together 6 months. Now we've been married almost 6 years! This ornament reminds me how excited I was when I started dating Brian- smitten in fact! (Okay, I'm still smitten...but who wouldn't be, Brian's a gem!)
We wish all our followers a wonderful holiday season filled with wonderful memories new and old!

2 comments:

laura said...

fun post! we have our xmas pickle up too!

jenrust said...

fun memories! Jason and I buy an ornament together each year. I just started writing the date and memory to keep w/ the ornament - cause I am starting to forget the details! It has been over 14 years now!