{Our} Home for the Holidays: Melanie's Memory Tree

Hi! Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is having a nice holiday season. I'm Melanie, and I blog over at http://bearrabbitbear.blogspot.com/. In the past few weeks, I've been re-focusing my blog, so I'd like to invite you by and let me know what you think of the changes! I write about a variety of crafts, sewing, and DIY topics, and I have a weekly link party on Thursday. A great big "Thanks!!" to Amy for letting me guest post at her blog today.

 Today, I'd like to show you a tradition in our home that my husband and I started back when we got married- our Christmas Memory Tree. 

Each time we go on vacation or each time a major event happens in our lives, we commemorate it with a special Christmas ornament. The day after Thanksgiving, we put a tree in our bedroom that is filled with only these ornaments. One of my favorite parts of Christmas decorating is pulling out these ornaments and reminiscing. Trips that we forgot we even took are brought back to memory with our Christmas Memory tree. Anything that is special or significant in our lives is represented on this tree. It's been fun to see the tree grow from a small table top tree to a 4 foot tree. My wish is that God grants us enough time here on this earth together for us to have a huge tree in our room filled with years of memories. 

I'd like to share with you a few of the ornaments that are on our tree:

This is a little crab ornament we purchased on one of our first beach trips together.

The colors aren't showing up well, but the hubby bought this ornament for me the year that I was pregnant.

Another beach ornament- lighthouses!

This is the ornament we received for volunteering with Operation Christmas Child one year.

An ornament from a local Moravian festival...

This one doesn't look exactly like our doggies, but close enough...

The Moravian star that adorns the top of our tree!

I have also begun a Memory tree for the little Princess. Right now, it's just a small tabletop, but we may have to expand it next year. It has all of her ornaments that she received the first year she was born, and then I buy her an additional one each year.

It's never too late to begin a Christmas Memory tree tradition of your own! You can do it for yourselves, your kids, or grandkids. I promise that it will be something your family loves every year.

Thanks so much to Amy for letting me guest post at her blog today! I hope you'll stop by my blog, http://bearrabbitbear.blogspot.com/. I am hosting a "Glam Your Bed" pillow sew-along that begins January 2, so mark your calendars for that! Stop by my blog and grab the button to remind you and your friends, and while you're there, check out a few of my other posts, like my Brown Bear, Brown Bear pillow pet tutorial or my Toddler Santa Tutu dress!

 

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Thanks so much to Melanie for sharing such a fun idea!  I definitely want to make sure hubby and I are better about buying ornaments on our special trips from now on.  We have a few, like one from the time we went to NYC during the Christmas season, one from the place we honeymooned, and several from Myrtle Beach {our favorite vacation spot!}.  Maybe this year I'll start by getting him one to commemorate our first live Ravens game!  What about you?  What are your special memory ornaments?

 

Don't forget to stop by the {Our} Home for the Holidays link party for all kinds of seasonal inspiration!

 

Happy Holidays and Happy Crafting!