Starting My Christmas Ornament Album

I'm a sucker for many things in life - love, Jesus, Oreos, a good Nicholas Sparks book, a yummy smelling candle. Three other things that I'm a big sucker for? Well that would be Christmas, traditions and anything sentimental.

With Christmas quickly approaching (scary, I know), I've been spending some time on Pinterest in order to get a little inspiration for this special time. I came across the idea of creating a Christmas Ornament Album. Basically, each year you purchase a new ornament to go on your tree and you have an album that stores a photo of the ornament as well as a little write up/explanation of why that each ornament is special to you, or why you chose it. You could take this general idea and run with it as much as you wanted to. For example, some people decide on one ornament a year, while others let each member of the family choose one. Some ornaments hold very special meanings, such as this family's glass ornament with their daughter's birth date on it. Other ornaments could be chosen simply because you like the look of them - not every single one has to pertain to something sentimental.

I think this is such a lovely new tradition to start. I immediately imagined myself looking around for the perfect ornament and slowly growing my collection as the years go by. I'm excited to see how my choice in ornaments change through the seasons of my life - engagement, wedding, marriage, pregnancy, babies, new jobs, new homes, grandbabies etc. If you saw this post you'll know how much I loved going through my great gran's collection of post cards and just how much I loved the sentimental value attached to each one. Because of my love for sentimentality and tradition I hope to one day pass my ornament collection and album onto my children, and hopefully have them pass it onto their babies. There's something so heartwarming about picturing my grandchildren knowing the story behind a certain ornament that they have been hanging on their tree their whole lives.

I was so excited about this idea that I jumped in my car and had a look around for the perfect ornament for 2015. I found this little snowman and I thought he'd be the perfect little guy to start my collection off.

My choice behind this snowman lies in Isaiah 1:18 - "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." This verse speaks of grace, of clean, fresh starts and new beginnings and I think it's so appropriate for this stage in my life. There's something so fresh and so pure about snow and God gives us the ultimate new beginning by washing our sins as white as snow. In about three weeks I walk into a whole season of new beginnings, of fresh starts - my canvas is as white as snow and I have the opportunity to paint any picture of life I want. This new season approaching brings with it a new home, a new province, a new degree and a new lifestyle. I couldn't be more excited for this fresh start and I'm so grateful to be reminded of this sweet new season every time I see this little ornament hanging on my tree.