Sunday Snapshot - Tradition

We have several Christmas traditions we enjoy here, who doesn't? One of my favorites is something that I'm sure many people do. Each year Amy and I buy an ornament for that year. Something that represents a major event or sums up that year. One of my favorite parts of decorating for Christmas each year is getting these ornaments out and remembering why they were chosen. Looking back, laughing, reminiscing. I'm pretty sappy an sentimental, as you well know, and this means the world to me. I love it so much that I do it all over again when it's time to put them away each year! So far we have 10 ornaments (wow, a decade's worth of Christmases together!), dating back to our first Christmas together in 2001. We've already decided what ornament we will get for 2011, we just need to find it. I'll post about that later, but I thought I'd share our collection today. Plus it gave me an excuse to try out my iPhone camera for close-ups! I often think about the future when we will need an entire tree just for these ornaments! Ahhh, the memories and joys of the season! I love Christmas!

All is well, picture perfect, in Drosche Land.

2001: Our first Christmas together. The usual 1st Christmas ornament! It's like a little time capsule, inside is a scroll where we wrote the details about the day like the weather, the gifts, etc.

2002: A cute ornament and my age must be getting to me because it is the only one that I cannot remember why it was chosen! Yikes! I'll have to consult Amy about this one. But I do like it because you can put a bulb from a strand of lights in the bottom and the littl tree "lights up"!

2003: We recorded a greeting into this one where we took turns saying Merry Christmas. However, it has long since stopped working. I want to see if it needs new batteries but am afraid that will wipe out any recording (if there still is one) and it will be lost forever. Amy and I still know what we said and say it each year when we hang it up though! Man we look young!

2004: Our first Christmas as a married couple! It was very special also because we had moved to New Orleans and it snowed o Christmas Day! Our colors for the wedding were red and silver and our flowers were roses and calla lilies so this was perfect!

2005: It should have been our 2nd Christmas in New Orleans but we had evacuated due to Hurricane Katrina and were back in Houston. At this point Amy was already pregnant with Braeden and we had not yet decided on staying in Houston or returning to New Orleans. When we picked out an ornament we wanted something bold and flamboyant, like New Orleans. This one reminded us of Mardi Gras, our favorite time there.

2096: Or first Christmas as parents and Braeden's first Christmas! Or theme for him was ducks and this was given to us so we thought it fit perfectly!

2007: We bought our house! This was our first Christmas in the house and we had only been living there for less than a month. We were still living out of boxes but we had a tree, even though the majority of our other decorations were still packed and/or in storage!

2008: The first year we cut down our own Christmas tree! It was my idea to cut off the bottom and shellac it. We did it the following year but have not again due to the busyness of everything. Next year we plan on resuming this tradition because we do love it so!

2009: The year we decided to take control of our finances and began following Dave Ramsey's plan! Amy and I decided to use the pieces of our cut up credit cards to fill an empty glass ornament to represent this momentous occasion. We still have a way to go but were working on it! A yearly reminder of how far we've come and how much we (thanks to Amy's awesomeness) have accomplished!

2010: The year Amy started her Sentsy business! We fell in love with it and she's continued to sell it regularly. Yes, the scent was originally that of a Christmas tree but it has since faded!