Well, okay, so I told you all a few weeks ago that we decorated our Christmas tree. That doesn’t mean, however, that we haven’t added some items here and there.
Thus, for today’s edition of “Make my List Monday,” I thought I’d do a breakdown of the different types of Christmas ornaments, for better (sequins!) or for worse (generic glass bulbs. blech.)
Meri’s “Getting in the Orna-Mentality” Checklist:
- Crafty Ornaments (by kids): We’re talking sleds made of popsicle sticks, Snowmen from cotton balls, and cookie cutter stars painted and tied with yarn, decoupage anything… I think we all can agree these are adorable. Grade: A- (points docked only because they don’t last forever. glue sticks aren’t immortal, you know…)
- Crafty Ornaments (by adults): I might be a little biased here in favor, as I’m quite the craft nerd myself. We merely up the ante from the kids’ category to crotcheted snowflakes, sequined and tasseled birds, painted and molded figurines. Grade: A (if you made up the design yourself), B- (if you copied it from a magazine or other tutorial.)
Yes, I made this. Yes, that means I give myself an A. You wanna make something of it? - Grown up ornaments: Otherwise referred to as, “look, but don’t touch,” or “that’s my faberge (insert anything)…” here we might see delicate glass icicles, crystal angels or birds, fancy metallic boots (I didn’t know this was a “thing” until yesterday. I thought we just had one weird unique boot.) Bells and nutcrackers round out the MVPs of this category. Grade: B (B for Beautiful but also for Boring…)
- Personalized (A.K.A. “make anything an ornament and put the kids name on it.”) That might sound a bit harsh, but you might see kiosks full of these at the mall. Snowmen, stockings, whatever your heart desires, with that special child (or adult?)’s name on it. This category includes the beloved baby photo in frame and engraved metal ornaments too. Grade: A+ for my baby picture ornament at my parents’ house, D for all of the other ones. This is my list, I grade how I want.
- Figurines: Disney characters, santa bears and coca cola bears, Snowbabies, and more. Peanuts characters, penguins, Wild players (we had one until he got accidentally decapitated… oops). Any character ever, in ornament form. Grade: D. I’m not inspired by these at all, even though I have some I absolutely adore.
oh gosh- I might have scary dreams about this one tonight... - Ornamental Food: Candy canes, popcorn and cranberry garlands, gingerbread cookies… Grade: A. I just love these, I think there’s something Victorian yet utilitarian about them. Winning!
- Balls/ Bulbs. Okay, so these are classic and unavoidable, yet sort of tiresome. Glittery or painted, Glass or porcelain. Grade: B+. Never better, never worse.
What are your favorite ornaments? Did I miss any categories? Do you have a fancy “grown up” tree, a “kid” tree, or a mixed tree?
Meri
I decorated my tree tonight and the ones that make my heart happiest are my souvenir ornaments. I have onse from Memphis, Paris, Edinburgh, London, and Venice. : ) <3
I like that idea- I might have to start getting souvenier ornaments!
I like finding ornaments when I’m on vacation.
thats a good idea- usually I just buy earrings on vacation but at a certain point my collection gets ridiculous haha
All of mine have to sparkle in some way! Looks great with the lights bouncing off them 🙂
I love how they look with the lights on them, too! gives me christmas spirit 🙂
We have all kinds of ornaments on our tree. Some of my favorites are the Italian ones and an Irish dancer that I got on a present one year (I think. My mom might have given it to me as my ornament for that year). They represent our heritage. I also like the personalized ones (sorry!) We do still have all the ornaments that my brothers and I made as kids but we rarely hang them up.
At my parents’ house, they don’t all get hung up because there are so many, but now that we have our own tree we needed all the ornaments we could get!
Yeah, once I move out and into my own place, it’ll probably be the same for me. I have very few ornaments that are mine. Although I told my mom I want a pink tree so that might be enough on its own…
that would be so fun!
I love glass balls! I love the way that they reflect the light, I love the way that they hang off the branches. I give old-school coloured glass balls an A grade. I love any ornament that tells a story. We buy one every Christmas to represent something important that happened that year.
that is such a nice tradition! I’m getting all sorts of great ideas about future ornaments and traditions!
LOL look but don’t touch is pretty much the story of my house… my friends are alwasy making fun of me that my house/decorations are gonna be in trouble when i have kids cuz everything is fragile and glass!
well maybe your kids will just be really well behaved 🙂
When my sister and I lived together, every year we would pick out a new ornament for the tree – those are usually my favorite! When we have to limit ourselves to just one, it becomes one that has more importance!
I bet you love every ornament on there!
The “grown-up” ornaments are my favorite because they are usually SO effing heavy that you have to group three branches together just to hold them up, and even then you keep the ornament near the bottom justincase it actually falls. Then you think to yourself, “That’s good enough, right?”
http://www.glamkittenslitterbox.com/
Twitter: @GlamKitten88
haha- this year I crafted a bunch of wire/ yarn/ beaded macrame ones that are really light and pretty much not breakable 🙂
I’m definitely in favor of the mixed tree. To me, that seems more “homey.” (Is that a word?). I love old ornaments (with years or hand-crafted ones) because a Christmas tree should really be about memories. The fancy ornaments also add a hint of glamour as well. I personally believe that trees which are too fancy or glamorous (i.e. the ones in department stores) are so impersonal. It wouldn’t feel right having one of those in my house…
I think mine will always be mixed, because I’m such a random person with what I like. I’m glad we agree 🙂
Talking about ornaments, I guess my favorite would be odd and that was year ago when we sponsored an Christmas tree at my sisters school, each child made their own ornament to hand to the tree and when Christmas was over it was now our job to do the clean up and bring home the tree together with the ornaments, since then we used the same ornaments these kids made for 3 years. It was so unique and each ornament is different and definitely have a story on its own.
that is so neat! And it is my favorite part about ornaments- they are all so different and everybody has a different favorite! I love to see pictures of other peoples’ trees!
I have both! I used to love my old fashioned tree with some hand made ornaments and the kid ones that people gave you kids or me when you were little. I still do but since I started my grown up tree and have been given many beautiful ornaments and have purchased many myself I find myself being very sentimental when I put that tree up. I have started even putting some glass balls (gasp!) that I purchase but I still like the overall effect. The tree has all white lights and the look is very glittery and crystally and sparkly. I’m a sucker for glitz I guess. But at night I love to gaze on my colored lighted tree with the baby pictures and little lambs from Mrs. Hoon and the ornament that Dad and I made for Jenny’s first Christmas. Oops, we never had time again to make one for the rest of you girls–sorry. Maybe that will be my project next year?
I so enjoyed both trees this weekend! Thanks again for a marvelous time!
My husband and I love to travel, so we have a lot of ornaments from around the world (Thailand, India, Ghaha, Singapore)…not sure what category those fall under, but we love them!
they sound neat! I usually collect earrings but maybe I’ll get travel ornaments too!
about 10 years ago (damn, that was a long time ago! i know this becaust it was right around the time mini-she was acquired!) i was converted to glass ornaments. my friend had the most beautiful tree full of (precious moments) glass ornaments. that year she gave me my first glass ornament to start my own collection. every year we trade one! i do love the kid’s hand made ones, too. those are the ones they actually get to touch and hang, lol!
[oomph.]
Enter the Christmas Giveaway!
they are pretty, especially next to the crafty ones 🙂