Touching Ornament Idea

I was driving home tonight from my mom's listening to Delilah and this awesome story came on. It went basically like this. A lady called in who was remembering and lamenting her first Christmas after moving out on her own/getting married. She realized that she had no ornaments for their tree as all the ones she grew up with that had history and beautiful memories were on the tree at her parent's house. So, they bought bright colored ball ornaments and while they were pretty, they had no emotion, no history, no memories as they hung on that tree.

So, now that she's a mother, she buys an ornament every year for her daughter, or someone gives her one as a gift. These ornaments do not go on the tree. Instead a little note is written about why that ornament is special, referring to something that was a special time/trip/memory from during the past year, or about the person who gave it to her.

These are packed away for her to take when she one day moves out on her own and has her first tree. Instead of just decorative ornaments hanging on the branches, she will have a tree full of special memories and ornaments.

Isn't that just the most awesome idea?

Fortunately, I was always the keeper of the tree/ornaments and the ones that we collected over the years and my childhood have always hung on my tree each year. So, from the start, I had ornaments that reminded me of trips taken, stores visited, special friends, and ones created with my own hands as a child, etc. It really makes the tree decorating very special. So, all in all, this is similar and something I know a lot of people do. However, I just loved the extra touch of the notes written and all being tucked away for future days. What a treasure to unwrap some December years from now....