Every branch a memory.

That's what I think when I look at my tree each year. Every branch of our giant tree holds some kind of memory for me. This year we actually scaled back a little and only got an 8 1/2 footer. Measly in comparison to some we have had in the past.

If your kids are still little, go slap some paint on their hands and make and ornament. All we did was take a brown grocery bag, painted the kids hands with some acrylic paints, pressed it onto the paper and then I cut out the shape of their hands, leaving a good 1/2 inch border. Stuff with some fiber fill then get out a hole punch and stitch around the edges with some yarn. Every Gram and Gramp would love an ornament like this. Don't forget to write the name and date on the back! My kids still compare their hands to this ornament every year.

Have have lots of these glass balls with the boys photos in them. I really should make some more now that one's a teen and the other a pre-teen. All I did was scan the photos and mount them on acetate, roll them around a pencil and slip them into the ball. They pop open once inside the glass. Pretty cool huh?

These sleds were hand painted by a little Swedish lady about 11 years ago.

My tree is loaded with lots of old fashioned glass balls, and mementos from our travels, our favorite sports teams, lots of my crafting, but the most precious ornaments of all are the ones that the kids made.

This little gingerbread man fell into Jesse's 2 1/2 year old hands back in 1997. Ruined?? Oh hell no, it's one of my absolute favorites. I can still see the look on his face when he was caught red-handed with the permanent markers he wasn't supposed to play with.

It became 'artwork' that I treasure. Jesse laughs when he looks at it now.

Of course there's lot's of ornaments that the kids would bring home when they were in elementary school. I cherish those. Every year when I pull them out of the ornament box I squeal with delight. I can remember how proud they were to give them to me. "Look what I made you Mommy". Makes me want to cry just thinking about it.

Even Moose has his own primitive ornament.

I love this little mouse in a walnut shell, and the fact that the real live mice that sometimes live in my attic and haven't eaten the walnut each year still amazes me. I've lost a few ornaments over the years before I switched them all over to a Rubbermaid container.

One of my favorite times of the whole year is when that box comes down from the attic. I always tell John, if we ever have a house fire that's one of the first things I'm grabbing......well I'd probably go for the fire box and the photo albums too, but its definitely in my top 3...after the kids, lol.