Holidays With My Hubby

I just wanted to make a quick post to share a holiday tradition my husband and I started on our honeymoon. We are both opposed to collecting knick-knacks and other junk, stuff that will just sit around. We both noticed that many of our family members like to collect things, my dad in particular builds up one big collection after another. I like his collections, and my grandmothers but I just can't see us doing the same. We have so much stuff already, we don't need to spend money or space on more just for the sake of having it. But there is one thing we thought of that we do need lots of, and the more variety the better (at least in my opinion): Christmas tree ornaments! So now anywhere we go in our travels we pick up an ornament. It's a nice way for us to look back and remember where we've been and I think it'll just get more fun as time goes by.

This year we went to Busch Garden's Christmastown in Williamsburg VA and actually got to make our ornament for the trip! There was a vendor selling hand-hammered ornaments, plates, all kinds of stuff. I'll try to find the business card and maybe a link but trust me when I say their stuff was really cool! Anyway, they had these hand-carved plates that you put a piece of soft metal on (aluminum? pewter? I can't remember) and then pound away with a mallet to push the metal into the relief and make a pretty pattern. One of the guys showed us what to do then we took turns crafting own very own ornament! It was awesome!
We kind of cheated on this trip and also purchased a pickle ornament but I've been wanting one since we went to Disney but those were $20. We bought ours for $6 and are looking forward to practicing a German tradition  next Christmas. My Dad's family is German and as a bonus my brother is a huge fan of pickles. My sister didn't even believe me when I told her there is a whole German tradition about pickle Christmas ornaments! Hahaha!

Me on the Merry-go-round!