A Few of My Favorite...Ornaments

One of the most nostalgic events of the year is getting out Christmas decorations. I often feel like everything in our house has a story behind it; but I REALLY feel like every single Christmas decoration has a story, something that gives it meaning and beauty beyond face value. Don't you love the memories that wash over you when you unpack and hang up your ornaments?

Here are a few of my favorites that are hanging on our tree this year:

~ this Cape Hatteras lighthouse ornament was given to me by Jeff's sister Kim...who has never seen the lighthouse but knew how special it is to me
~ obviously, Josiah's hand print from last year, special beyond my ability to express because of how much he means to me

~ a glass pineapple ornament...if you know me well, you know that I LOVE pineapple stuff...I'm not a huge collector of anything specific; but if I was going to collect something (as far as household items/decorations), it would be pineapple things...pineapples are the symbol of hospitality, after all! :)

~ I remember the first time I saw an ornament like this...it was in a storefront window in Coronado, California, the one-of-a-kind, gorgeous town where Jeff and I both worked when we were first married...in that particular shop, there was a Christmas tree decorated simply and elegantly in white lights and these angels...I fell in love with these beautiful angels that day; and although my tree has colored lights this year (in deference to the wishes of my husband and oldest son) instead of the white that I prefer, and even though my tree doesn't boast the multitude of snowy angels that the shop tree did that day (but instead has randomly-scattered-and-bunched ornaments that don't exactly match), I'm still glad to have this little angel on my tree as a reminder of the beauty that stood out so vividly to me on that long-ago day in that far-away place