Holiday Traditions/ Laurie

My family always puts our Christmas tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Each year we make a new ornament to put on the tree using Pete's woodworking tools and paint. I let the children hang the ornaments and take part in the holiday decorating. We also each get a "special" ornament each year to hang on the tree. I still have my special ornaments from childhood, and we want our children to have a collection of ornaments they can take with them when they grow up and leave our house. Hopefully they will serve as reminders of some particular year, like in 2000 we had a special millenium ornament. Some are picture ornaments and there are also many that they made in preschool that we still get out each year and hang on the tree. It always brings a feeling of nostalgia to us as we drink our warm apple cider and watch the pretty lights on our tree decorated with love and care.