The Memory Tree

Most people have Christmas trees this time of year, but as we approach our 23rd Christmas ours has become more of a memory tree. We've purposely tried to find ornaments that mark places we've been or have some significance in our lives. We decided a couple of years ago that we wouldn't put anything on the tree unless it had a special meaning to us. As you can see, the 7' tree is pretty cluttered.
Since I can't invite all of you over to the house to give you the tour, I thought I'd post a bunch of pictures and give you a little bit of the stories behind them.

This is the first ornament we ever bought together. I had a gift certificate to Sak's Fifth Avenue and we bought this along with other stuff.
Our first Christmas as a married couple, and my favorite cartoon characters.
The tree has some other firsts as well, such as the first ornaments for each of our kids. Our daughter in 1988...
and our son in 1991.
Of course, we also have some of those kid-made items, like this one from preschool.
My wife's mom had a number of beautiful antique glass ornaments that are now on our tree.

Disneyland has played a big role in our lives, and we have several Christopher Radko pieces from there, including the castle...
Disney's first couple...
The Disney railroad...
and the Haunted Mansion dressed up for the Nightmare Before Christmas.
Presidents have also had an impact, such as this one from the Ronald Reagan Library.
This came from our visit to Mount Vernon, George Washington's home.
And this one was a gift from the Bush White House.
Our family travels are represented. Both kids made trips to Canada with the marching band, and our daughter bought this for us on her second trip.
The next two came from the orchestra's 2007 New York City trip. Carnegie Hall, where the orchestra performed, and one commemorating New York City itself.

We picked this up on Kauai in 2006.
This came from this past July's Michigan trip.
In April we visited the train museum in Sacramento. This poppy pattern had been used on the china in famous Santa Fe Super Chief trains.
San Francisco - my wife loves the old Victorian homes.
And a couple from Las Vegas.

In 2003 I did an ornament for the guys in the quartet.
And there are a couple of silly memories - this ornament from Carl's Jr. that we got probably 15 years or more ago. I used to kid my daughter about "that ugly old star".
And the last one - an ornament that came with our DVD of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, my favorite holiday movie.
I can't wait to see what we add next.