I love making memories and traditions with my kids.  It is my hope that my children remember these times and pass them on to their families when they are older.   One of the traditions that we have is making ornaments and collecting ornaments together.  I also love those special ones that have been given to us by people that we love.  Every ornament on our tree has a story and our children love reminiscing  about the ornament of where it came from and who gave it to us.  It makes my heart happy to see my children take such good care of these precious memories.

The angel below, Buddy and I got when our oldest son was 11 months old.  It was his very first Christmas.  That was 19 years ago.

our angel.

The beaded candy cane ornament was made by my oldest son when he was in elementary school.  The Angel is made from my youngest daughter’s footprint and hand prints.  The foam star was made by my oldest daughter.  The stocking ornament with the little girl on it was given to our youngest daughter by our neighbor in NC.   The Santa Clause, I painted when we lived in Florida, 10 years ago.  It was our first year of homeschooling and the kids and I painted ornaments.

Angel made from a foot print and hand prints.

This angel was given to our oldest son when he was just 4 years old.  His Sunday School preschool teacher, Mrs. Susie Douglas gave it to him.  She loves him so much and the feeling was mutual.  Michael loved her dearly.  She loved the children in her class.  Sadly, she passed away several years ago and will always have a special place in our hearts.

an angel given to our oldest son when he was 4.

I saw this ornament and had to buy it and paint it.  It is my favorite Christmas song.  It reminds me of that special night, so long ago, when God sent his only Son to be born of a virgin.

an ornament I painted with the kids.

The three Gator ornaments are from a very dear friend.  He sent these to us when we lived in NC.  We are huge Gator fans, since that is where we originally are from.  You can also see our sun catcher candles that we made from the very first lesson of the Advent study we are doing.

Gator ornaments given to us by a friend.

The ornaments below were made by all of our children.  We have a snowflake by our youngest son, a Christmas tree by our youngest daughter, the bear is painted by my oldest daughter and the CD ornament was made by our oldest son when he was in school.

ornaments kids made.

So many memories on our tree.  By looking at this tree, it shows just how blessed that we are.  God has been so good to us and has allowed so many special people in our lives.  I am so blessed by being able to stay at home with our children and able to make and do so much with them to make those special memories.  Yes, I am so thankful and blessed.

Do you make ornaments with your children?  What other special traditions do you have?