How cute! Yes, that's what my children used to do each year. Always added whatever ornaments they made in school when they were little. Then my sister would give DS a set of Sesame Street ceramic ornaments, and up they would go. I haven't used those in years, but saw them two weeks ago. Wondered out loud if DS would ever want them for his tree. The tree back then was full of painted wooden ornaments in various themes (rocking horses, teddy bears, circus, angles, soldiers, etc), so anything they put on pretty much fit in.

My tree this year was sort of like that. Got it up and round ornaments put on. A few days later added ribbon. A week later added handmade glass icicles.

Those kind of trees have meaning (not to mention memories!). It's kind of the story of your family's life. Allison I bet your son would love having the ornaments. Even if he chose not to put them on his tree, it's a nice keepsake. And since there will be a little one in his life soon - I think you should give them to him.

tina

Allison - absolutely give them to your son even if he doesn't put them on his tree. I remember growing up that our Mom insisted that every ornament be put on the tree despite not having enough branches. It would take so long that we would beg to stop.

A few yrs. ago my mom presented me w/ a box of ornaments that we used to hang on the tree. So many happy memories! I didn't put them on our tree but I gave them to DS1 to hang on his bedroom tree and as I handed each one to him told him lots of Christmas stories about his Grandma and when I was growing up.

People have been known to color-sort my tree as the days go by...and there are a lot of family symbols, and birds that get re-arranged into vignettes, and personal ornaments that would get hung higher than other's people ornaments, although now the top branches are sort of reserved for those in heaven and those of us here are not in a big hurry to get there...

What a wonderful story!!

And yes Allison, gives those to your son. He might not ever ask for them, but he probably would still want them.

My grown daughter arrived last night and one of the first things she said is "Where is the stocking?". It's a felt stocking with a Santa on it that I made for her when she was 5. That's one of the things she has carted around but it
always ends up at my house for Christmas :)

It's the 3rd one down from the left:

I was going to make some all white felt stockings for this year, but I don't dare not hang that one, so the all white went by the wayside.

I seriously doubt he would take right now. His downtown Chicago condo is not that big, and with the little one on the way it is getting smaller. I'll offer in a few years when I know he won't toss them!

Weird, I have the opposite effect...my tree seems to be missing ornaments! I have a two yr old in the house that would explain the empty bottom three feet. But, yeah, this year we did two trees also - one for me - all coordinated and just so and a fun tree for everyone else. My son does not discriminate he defaces both trees.

Cute stories.

Our tree is completely covered with ornaments that we have collected or been given over the years, things the kids made in school or Scouts. Plus every year we give our two DS's a new ornament. Now that they are getting older, when they are ready, those will be boxed up to go with them on their own trees. Older DS is living in his own place, but this is the first year, and he didn't decorate, so his ornaments are still here.

I love seeing all the ornaments and recalling all the memories. Beautifully coordinated and styled trees are lovely, but I wouldn't trade this one done this way for anything. It is our family history - I guess our 'family tree". LOL

This is the first year in thirty something years I did not put ornaments om the tree. (I'm lucky I got the tree up!)

I grabbed the fall organic orbs, curls and pinecones that were sitting in a bowl on the dining table and tucked them into the branches.

I'm surprised at how much I like it. I assumed I would add the real ornaments over time and it would evolve into my regular tree, but that never happened. I love my low key tree this year!

Like Les, every year we each get a special ornament to hang on the tree (I find ones for DH and the kids and DH gets mine). It's our Christmas Eve tradition, along with the Christmas Eve pajamas.

The ornaments are usually either themed (like sports, Disney, western, etc.) or personalized based on each person's hobbies and interests. E.g. this year DH got a DIY ornament that had hanging tools. DD, who's recently engaged, got an ornament of a man bending down on one knee and proposing to his lady (even has a little bling in the jewelry box!). She also got a Starbucks coffee cup ornament :-)

DS1 got a video game themed ornament and newly licensed DS2 got an ornament of a boy getting his driver's license. Little DD got a pretty glass hot fudge sundae ornament, because she lives for sweets! DH always gets me a Santa ornament, or something w/a lawyer theme.

I hosted a Christmas brunch/ornament exchange this year and that was fun. We exchanged White Elephant style, except they were all beautiful ornaments.

So, our tree is constantly evolving with the new ornaments. The intention is to give each child his/her own ornaments someday when they have their own tree, but now I'm not so sure it will be easy to let them go. I would really miss seeing these ornaments each year because they bring back so many memories! It would also break up all of the sets :-(

Frank and his siblings manage to redecorate the tree from the time it's up and has ornaments on it. So it's all plastic, shatterproof decor. I just wish so many of the ornaments weren't covered in glitter! They're pretty on the tree, but once they become a cat toy, I find glitter all through the house for weeks after Christmas! Oh well, we'll have sparkly grout for the New Year!

I'm debating about what to do with all of the vintage glass ornaments. I have a whole tote full of mercury glass and plain silver, so I think I'll make some of those into a wreath for over the fireplace next year. But I have boxes and boxes of old Shiny Brites. I hate to just store them hoping we grow out of the kitten phase some day, so I may just sell them all.