Everyone's favorite ornament

So we pulled the boxes out today and with great excitment the kids helped me unwrap the decorations. We really don't have much, I have wittled it down to just two boxes, but what we have saved I hope lasts for years because of the traditions they carry.

One tradition that we have adopted from Paul's family is giving each child their own unique ornament each year. The one that is pictured here was Paul's from 1982 and it has always been everyone's favorite. It is really quite random, just three old puff balls in a small plastic cup with a small straw and tiny red puff ball on top. Paul said he loved it as a child because it always made him thirsty and admits to trying to drink out of it just like our our kids often do. But when we first got married I planned for a really classy tree and kept moving that little puff-ball soda to the back where it could not disrupt my carefully staged Christmas presentation.

Since then I have experienced a complete change of heart. Instead of style, I have submitted to history and character. This puff-ball soda is now front and center along with the 1979 puff-ball Big Bird, the 1988 Green Bay Packers football player nutcracker, and all the homemade scribbled then laminated construction paper ones our kids have made. I guess it fits with the mis-matched stockings we collect as well.

Now all we need is a tree and that will be soon enough. When it is being set up the children will be sent on a scavenger hunt to find this year's ornaments that were selected specially for them. And I can't wait to blog about that because they were all picked up from yard sales and match the randomness/uniqueness of our favorite little puff-ball soda.