avatarDr. Sarah Lyall-Neal

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What Does Your Christmas Tree Mean to You?

Are your ornaments simply decoration changed every year or do they tell a story?

Author’s Personal Collection

My mom started the tradition years ago of having her tree tell a story. Looking at her tree every year is like taking a trip down memory lane. She has ornaments commemorating travel, important events, and family stories.

She also hides a pickle in her tree every year as a challenge for the family. I submitted the story of this tradition to Good Housekeeping and they covered it last year. See the article here, we are number 16.

While I haven’t started the pickle tradition in my home yet, still enjoying it at her house, my tree has definitely taken on a story of its own.

Come along and I’ll tell you about some of the newest arrivals on my tree.

Pink Flamingo

Author’s Personal Collection

I was over the moon to find this ornament from Hallmark. When I was a little girl growing up in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia my parents took me to the Santa Train every year.

One year when I was small, my dad was holding me up for a better view. Santa saw me and threw a stuffed flamingo my way. Unfortunately, he put a little too much behind the throw which my dad wasn’t expecting and I nearly ended up on the ground. In the chaos, someone took the flamingo, but we have laughed about this numerous times throughout the years.

I love my dog

Author’s Personal Collection

I found this gem at a thrift store for the local humane society.

This has been the year of dogs for my husband and I. In January on a freezing cold Sunday evening we went to the home of a local breeder and got our baby girl. Luna is a full-blooded blue American Pitbull and while she isn’t dangerous like the stereotypes, she definitely has attitude. When we got her we thought our hearts were full, but we soon realized she needed a sibling. See Luna here.

We decided to rescue her a brother. We did our homework and ended up going with a pitbull rescue out of North Carolina. I made the trip to meet the rescuers halfway and absolutely fell in love with our Coby the second I laid eyes on him in the back of their SUV. I remember telling him that day that I would be his mommy and take care of him forever. I meant every word. He slipped seamlessly into our family. See Coby here.

Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens

Author’s Personal Collection

Another big change this year was our move from Northeast Tennessee to Northeast Ohio. You have to be ready when life throws you a curveball. My husband’s job transferred us in May.

The move was crazy, but we are starting to settle in. Our families came to visit and we took them around for some sightseeing. One place we visited was Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens. This estate has ties to the discovery of rubber and the Goodyear Corporation.

My husband and I also went there for a craft festival, which you can read about here.

The Tennessee Vols

Author’s Personal Collection

We might be living in Ohio State country now, but my husband and I are Vols fans at heart.

Every weekend, we work our schedules around game time. At kickoff, we are usually piled on the couch with the dogs ready to go.

I’m still working on teaching Coby yelling at the tv isn’t cause for alarm. He’s getting there. Luna, too sophisticated for football, generally uses the time to catch up on her beauty sleep while getting her ears rubbed.

We had a pretty good season this year and we’ll be around for bowl games!

I could go on and on about my collection, but I’ll end with these as they are excellent examples of my vision for our tree.

Your turn, do you have special ornament stories? I would love to hear about them in the comments!

I would like to give a shoutout to Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, and her Christmas piece Why Christmas Means a Little Bit More to Me.

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Christmas Tree
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