Ornament Traditions

So many people I know have the tradition of giving or receiving a new ornament every year for Christmas, and I love this idea because you can never have too many ornaments.  We give our nieces and nephews a small ornament every year even when their family isn't the name we drew for the holidays.  (J.D.'s one of four so we draw names and only buy big gifts for one sibling's family.)  The ornaments are usually from Crate and Barrel and are reasonable and fun.  Growing up there was almost always a ornament tied to one of my bags as the "tag" for the present, and these ornaments are still some of my favorites.  J.D. and I are still establishing traditions with Virginia, but I think an annual ornament is something simple we want to include.  Some people gift Radko's (we did this last year for Virginia's first Christmas), some people gift Needlpoint ornaments (see below!) and others prefer vintage glass or whimsical things from Anthropologie.  I gave Virginia a "V" from Anthropologie last year, and I'm kinda wishing I did this year too.  Do you give annual ornaments?

~Mary Keller

P.S. my resolutions including needlepointing Virginia an ornament for the year.  Two things, first, I had no idea how $$ this idea would be.  Holy cow why is it so expensive!?  Second thing, I had no idea how time consuming it would be.  I did start Virginia's ornament.  I even bought the pattern in July (at the big Christmas in July sale!) but in the 6 months I've been working on it, it's still only half done! :)  ha, fortunately my grandmother took over and gifted her one instead. :)