Our Thankful Ornament

Early in our marriage, dear friends of ours (Cynthia’s God Parents, in fact) gave our young family a gift. It was a Christmas tree ornament, the one pictured above. The tradition that unfolded from it has shaped every Christmas holiday since.

One of our most anticipated traditions is reading (and adding to) our Thankful Ornament.

Inside the cylinder ornament are sheets of paper with hand-written lists, one for every year since 1991. Each list has everyone’s “Thankful List” from the year prior. On Christmas Eve, we pull out these lists and read all the way through them.

This Christmas we will have 19 years of lists to read from, and each child will add to the list with their 2010 thankful tidings. Each year the list grows larger and larger. Everyone still gets to list only 3-4 things they are most thankful for, but the number of children — each with their own unique list — has grown almost every single year!

It’s a joy, too, to reminisce over our wonderful life together. We’ll be celebrating our 20th in 2011, and the years have brought about several awesome blessings. Fifteen of those blessings are listed in our Thankful Ornament.

Here’s a quote for you: “Traditions are the guideposts driven deep in our subconscious minds. The most powerful ones are those we can’t even describe, aren’t even aware of.” So true. We look forward to the Thankful Ornament every Christmas.