Christmas Traditions, Part 1

Since our marriage, and especially since we had children, Jeff and I have established several traditions for Christmas in our family. One of those is buying the kids an ornament for the tree each year. I love the idea that when they move out of the house to a home of their own, they'll have plenty of childhood Christmas memories to take with them. The first ornament is always one of their first shoes ...

Joe's and Selah's first shoes.

And after that, I try to get them something that coordinates with something that happened that year. Some of Kaity's ornaments are a ballerina, a pink glittery ball, an artist's pallet, her initial, and an angel named Grace. Some of Joe's are a dump truck, his initial, a train, a ball with his handprint, and a nutcracker. This year, they chose their own ornaments, a first! Selah's was her shoe, of course, but Kaity and Joe were shopping with me when they found the perfect ones for this year.

This was Kaity's first year playing soccer, and Joe's second. They both loved the experience and hope to do it again next year.