The first Christmas Tony and I started dating we realized that we both really loved the Christmas season. We went to Santa's Wonderland in College Station, played Christmas music in our cars all the time, went shopping at the Galleria in Houston the night they lighted the big tree near the ice skating rink, and just altogether enjoyed every part of the Christmas season. That year I decided it would be fun to do an ornament exchange that would represent something that happened in that year between us. Tony was game and with that we started our own Christmas tradition. It has become the most special part of the holidays for us because each year we hunt for the perfect ornament to give each other that is representative of our year together.
Here is a look at our ornaments over the past five years together...
Our first Christmas together I bought a puppy named Ranger. I then realized my roommates didn't want a puppy, nor did I have the time as a full time college student and part time worker to take care of one. Don't worry, we found him an excellent home where he is living large, but this is a reminder of that little guy. This was my ornament to Tony that year.
This was Tony's ornament to me the first year. On our first official date, Tony came to pick me up with a red rose in hand
These were Tony's gift to me the second year we were dating. In that year, we both graduated from A&M.
These little guys cooking were my gift to Tony that year. When Tony accepted a job in Georgetown we spent a lot of weekends in his tiny apartment kitchen cooking up new recipes to save money instead of going out to eat. We had a lot of fun that year making due with his small set of cooking utensils.
Year 3: Tony's gift to me that year was actually two ornaments. The first being the ring as this was the year we got engaged.
He also got this ornament to mark our wedding date.
The married couple was my gift to him for year 3.
Last year's gifts to each other was slightly comical. We were both so excited to be getting into our new home that we both searched for the same theme of ornament online. With tons of options out there who would have thought we'd pick almost the EXACT SAME ONE! This was mine to Tony...I think.
And this was Tony's to me. The only difference is the wording and the placement of the year. Wow! We tried really hard this year to make sure this didn't happen again!
This year we were relieved to find out that we hadn't picked the same ones for each other. Tony gave me the one on the left. It's an ornament to represent my mom selling her home in Victoria and moving to be closer to us. That was her old address and funny enough she had a red door on her home. It was very sweet of him to mark such a special time for our family. Mine to him is the bear grilling on the right. This year Tony got a new grill and spent so much time outside cooking for us! Because of him we've had many, many delicious meals that he and I had never shared together before because we didn't have a grill in our apartment living days.
I love this tradition and I can't wait to look back after 30+ years to see all the ornaments we've collected along our marriage. Every year it is really special to take these ornaments out and reminisce over the years we've spent together and the fun we've had. I'm so glad we started this tradition and I hope that one day our children can see the love we have for each other when they see these up on one of our many trees around the house.
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