Tree Treasure No. 11: A Tradition Passed From Generation To Generation

This little elf is one of my dearest treasures. Every year my grandparents gave me and my cousins an ornament so that when we grew up and had homes of our own we would already have a collection filled with meaning. I had no idea how special that tradition would become.

A few were lost when my childhood home flooded one Christmas, which makes the ones I still have even more cherished. When I hold this one and see the year 1979 written on the bottom, it feels like I’m holding a piece of my childhood.

I carried on the tradition with my own children, giving them an ornament every December. What I did not anticipate was how emotional it would be the year they each took their box of ornaments to start decorating their own homes. For twenty years those ornaments hung on our family tree and seeing them leave the nest felt like the end of a chapter and the start of a new one for them.

This little elf reminds me that traditions become the threads that tie our families together.

Did you grow up with any holiday traditions that you continued with your own family?

If you enjoy nostalgic holiday stories, I’m also sharing my Christmas memories in a new series called Christmas Stories Throughout the Years.