Rockin' Around The Ornament Tree

Part three...sorry about yesterday, busy, busy day but I have a very good feeling that the kids are going to be in Christmas Heaven when they find out what "Santa" got them this year. Whew...

Of all our ornaments through the years, the handmade ones get to me the most. They make me get all teary looking back to when the kids,

1. were shorter then me.
2. had smaller hands then mine.
3. smelled like Elmer's School Glue.
4. could only reach the bottom half of the tree.
5. brought home little paper bags sacks with their creations in it.
6. tried to have enough willpower to hide those creations till Christmas.
7. always gave them to me the day after they brought them home.
8. were in elementary school, before they became tweens & teens.
9. all of the above.

Little bitty Kody with his first Mohawk, back when he was about 7 or 8, I think?



Teeny Weeny Kolin at 5 years old and in Kindergarten, OMG how I miss him being so tiny and sweet (that's a sparkly shoe on the left. How I love sparkly things and how I do love shoes!! LOL!!}....



Kaysha at the same age, same grade as Kolin but not the same state. We were living in Putnam Valley, NY at the time. (notice, winter clothes on her and short sleeves on the boys, hehe}...



Every year at the Camp Boggy Creek Holiday Bash, they have lots of tables set up for crafts. Many of those tables are where the kids can make ornaments. Every year without fail, Kolin will take a few minutes out from throwing wet sponges at elves faces, dunking camp counselors in a water tank, eating everything in site, and running every obstacle course 7000 times to sit down and make me a new ornament.
This was from two years ago...



Kody made this the Christmas after his crainiotomy. Although he still wasn't able to officially be back in school, his class did not want him to miss out. So he went back for an hour or so and because he coordination was still not right, his teacher and classmates all gathered around him and made sure the nose was glued where it should be and so on. He was so proud of that reindeer and because that boy has zero willpower, he gave it to me that afternoon as soon as we got in the car.

That lil' boy next to it is Kolin, at the age of 4 and in preschool. He had a mad crush on his preschool teacher, it was so cute. :0)



When Kody Bear was a baby, he was addicted to his pacifiers. I mean, three at one time. And, he would only accept one brand, one style binkie at all times. He had them hidden all over the house, it was crazy. LOL!
Anyway, one year when we figured he was out of control, unstoppable we told him that if he hung his pacifiers on the Christmas tree, Santa would take them and leave him presents instead.
Like a miracle, it worked!!

We kept them and still hang a few on the tree every year. :0)



Two year later we did the same thing to Kolin who would not give up his sippy cups for any reason. For Santa though, he would...



Of all the ornaments I have collected, this one will always be my favorite. I bought it for myself after we found out about Kody's brain tumor. It was the only one there on the shelf, and although I promised myself I would only look that day at ornaments and not buy, because I was only going to do grocery shopping, I knew I had to have it.

This ornament always gets put up first, front and center by me, it's a little hard to read, but it has my favorite word in the world on it, "HOPE"....



I could show you probably 100 more family ornaments, but we'll save some for next year too.

Last night we took the kids out light looking and a trip down Christmas Tree Lane, which is a big thing in Leesburg, FL. You stay in your car, lights off and drive slowly through a retirement community who does Christmas BIG! M&M Claus are there with candy canes, a bazillion lights, toy shops, reindeer flying, happy people, music. It's great, it really is and we've been going every year since we've been here.

Also today, we're taking the kids {when Karlio gets home from work} out the the Village Square for a few more Christmas photos and a quick stop at Sam's Club for a Gingerbread House kit. I thought it would be a pretty cool project for us all.

Pictures coming soon.

Have a great day everyone!!