This Year's Hallmark Ornaments

One of our Christmas family traditions is Hallmark Ornaments. Each year I get the kids one Hallmark Ornament. Usually, I try to get something that represents something they loved that year. When they are all grown and move out, they will take their Hallmarks with them and hopefully have a glimpse of what they treasured over their childhood.

We've collected some neat ones - Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Blues Clues, Princess Leah, Hannah Montana, Lightning McQueen and Indiana Jones - just to name a few. Last year, we didn't get to purchase them until after Christmas because of my husband being out of work. We had to choose from the 65% off ones and there wasn't too much of a selection left!

However, I made up for it this year! I wanted to share what we chose for this year and a little bit about why.

First, Taya's Tom and Jerry Ornament. Taya loves to watch the old Tom and Jerry cartoons on Cartoon Network. When she saw this one, over princesses, Mickey, everything, she had to have it.

Second, Caleb's ornament. Not a real big surprise here.....Tron Legacy. This is Sam Flynn's light cycle thing (I don't know too much about the movie yet). Its a cute ornament though because it lights up when you touch a button. Another MUST HAVE for Caleb.

Third, Delena's ornament. I've noticed as Delena reaches the tween years, she is having a harder and harder time picking out something. She didn't want princesses or Barbie. She is a bit tired of Mickey. Not into Twilight or Harry Potter. No female Star Wars ornaments this year. So I convinced her to get this one. It is one you decorate yourself. At first, she was very hesitant but ended up choosing it. In the end, she had a lot of fun working on the decorations and said she wants the same kind next year!

Finally, this is mine and Mark's ornament. We don't always get to get one, depending on the budget. However, I got this one early enough - before I bought one for anybody else! It really needs to explanation :) Celebrating our first year as Happy Campers.

Now here is an update on our Jesse Tree. So far, we have made three ornaments. We chose to hang our ornaments on a large artificial Palm tree instead of a Christmas tree.

Day 1 - The World

Day 2 - An apple with a snake

Day 3 - Noah's Ark

Today we will be making the 4th ornament - a tent for Abraham. I will post more updates as we do them, but so far we are all really enjoying this Jesse Tree!

Have a great weekend.