Monday, November 28, 2011
Around the World Christmas Tree
The first "big" trip that Brian and I took together while dating was to St. Croix in the Caribbean for a little winter sun. We had been dating for six or seven months and although it wasn't our first weekend away with each other, it was the first trip that required a plane ride. It was exciting and a little nerve-wracking. Happily, the trip went off without a hitch (apart from that one time when we were driving down the wrong side of the road - who knew they drove on the left hand side in St. Croix??).
While we were there we bought the funniest Christmas ornament to commemorate the trip, somehow we knew we would be spending lots of Christmas' together.
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| St. Croix, 2007 |
Ever since that first trip we have bought a Christmas ornament from every place that we have visited together. It's a great way to remember our trips together without ending up with a lot of tchotchkes (yeah, I totally had to look up how to spell that). And it gives our Christmas tree some meaning. Every year when we decorate the tree we can take a trip down memory lane as we unwrap our ornaments. We get to "visit" each of those places again, if only for a few minutes. We love our ornament collection now, but I have a feeling we will treasure it even more once we move back to the US and don't get a chance to travel the world as much as we do now. It will also be great to show our kids one day, and share with them all the fun stories about all the places we have been.
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| Salzburg, Austria 2008 |
So, do you want to take a trip around the world with me?
(Ok, its mostly to Europe...close enough)
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| Venice, Italy 2008 |
Sometimes we get lucky and are able to find actual ornaments, either with a picture of the city or of a memorable landmark.
Other times, we have to improvise. When we were in Turkey we couldn't find a Christmas ornament to save our life (gee, I wonder why), so we picked up an ever popular Evil Eye and stuck a hook on it. Voila, instant ornament.
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| London, UK 2008 - present |
When we were in Malmo, Sweden we had the hardest time finding and ornament. It came down to the last few minutes before we had to leave for the airport when we decided to buy a little wooden horse, traditionally found in Malmo. We weren't quite sure how it would work as an ornament, but we were running out of options. We tied a ribbon around it and now it hangs proudly on our tree. Might not be the most elegant ornament there, but we love it just the same.
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| Paris, France 2010 |
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| Oslo, Norway 2009 |
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| Copenhagen, Denmark 2009 |
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| Dubrovnik, Croatia 2010 |
And perhaps Brians favorite ornament of them all...
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| Dublin, Ireland 2010 |
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I do the same thing! though I try to make it more ridiculously challenging by trying to find a shoe from that country/culture whenever possible. Can't wait to go around the world with your tree at Christmas NEXT year :)
ReplyDeletethis makes me so mad kev and i didn't think of this 5 years ago! i want to start collecting ornaments on our travels too!
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