Homemade Christmas Tree Ornaments

Nick and I have a pretty special Christmas tree.  All of the ornaments on it were either given to us, are hand-me-downs, or were purchased by us on vacation.

When we bought our house three years ago, my parents and sister bought us the tree and a large box of shiny and sparkly balls as a housewarming gift.  They also gave us a box of A Christmas Story ornaments!  Here's Flick's namesake licking the flagpole.

That same year, my aunt and uncle gave us this awesome door ornament to celebrate buying our house.

When Nick and I were on vacation in New Orleans last year and Yellowstone this year, we picked up ornaments.

Over the years, relatives have given us ornaments as Christmas gifts.  Otherwise, the rest of our ornaments are hand-me-downs from my grandparents.  We acquired a large box of Christmas ornaments when my grandparents downsized from their house into an apartment.  Even though most of the ornaments were already picked over by my aunts and uncles, we came away with a pretty good stash.  There are some Christmas balls from the 70s.

But the best of the bunch are the handmade ornaments. My parents have a couple of quilled snowflakes on their tree that I love, so I was thrilled when Nick and I discovered a quilled snowflake in the box from my grandparents.  Isn't it so classy?  I recently came across a tutorial on All Things Paper for making your own quilled snowflakes that I've been wanting to try out.  Perhaps this little guy will have some friends in the future!

There are also a few yarn ornaments, including a couple of Santas and a crocheted bell.

But the bulk of the handmade ornaments from my grandparents are painted wooden ornaments.  They add a nice change to the tree, which is mostly sparkly and shiny.  Of course you need the sparkly and shiny for a tree, but the wooden ornaments add a softness that balances everything out nicely.

Poor Raggedy Andy is missing his make Raggedy Ann.  One of my aunts must have swiped her!

We spent a long time trying to figure out what to put on the top of the tree.  I grew up with an angel at the top of our family tree and Nick grew up with a star on top.  After much discussion, we settled on a star.  But not just any star.  We wanted to find and/or make a star like the Berenstain Bears' star.

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Yes, it's pink, but isn't it awesome?  It's like a giant sparkly jack.  We looked everywhere we could think of for a suitable star, or at least one that we could slightly alter to make it more Berenstain Bears-y.  During one of our last shopping days before Christmas, we stopped in Homegoods as a last ditch effort.  And that's where we found it: our very own pink star.  At the time we thought it was a little too pink, so we picked up some silver glitter spray paint, but it really only made the star more sparkly.  But the pink had grown on us.  We hot glued small silver balls on the tips of the star, and our very own Berenstain Bears pink Christmas star was complete!  I absolutely love it, but I understand that it's far from everyone's taste.  I'm just thankful that Nick loves it too.  It definitely completes our tree!

I'll hold off on showing you a full shot of our tree until it's completely finished.  We have all of the lights and ornaments on, but we're still working on stringing the popcorn, which is a must-have for our Christmas tree.  Stay tuned!