Baby's First Christmas

When my first baby was born, my mom started a tradition of buying a Baby's First Christmas ornament for him. She bought one for each grandchild, up until the year she died. That year I took up the tradition and have added an ornament for each new baby. I never realized how hard it was to choose a good ornament. The year Levi was born was the year we didn't decorate for Christmas, we didn't even put up a tree, so I never got around to getting him an ornament. I had to go online and find a site that sold past year ornaments.

This year is Jacob's first Christmas, and so I began the search for a new ornament. Each year it seems harder to find one, but I suppose that is because I am so picky. I'd like the ornaments each to make a good set together, but not to be too much alike. That is very hard. I found a cute stork ornament, but I bought a stork for Levi, so I didn't want to have another. Each of the ornaments is a ceramic animal with a toy or stocking, so I didn't want a glass ball with writing on it, and I didn't want a flat disk or star. Of course, the ornament also has to just appeal to me.

Finally I found a cute Boyds Bear ornament. The bear is plush, but Boyds has a special meaning for me, because my mom used to collect the bears. Today the ornament arrived in the mail, and I am a bit disappointed. It is bigger than I expected, and the bear is not at all poseable, which it said in the description that he would be. However, when I showed it to Jacob he got a huge smile on his face; so I guess it will do. :-)



Here is the bear on the tree with the other boys' ornaments:


The stack of blocks is 1994, the baby bootie is 1996, the bear hugging a christmas stocking is 1998, the mouse in the nutshell cradle is 2000, the bunny in the blue knit stocking is 2002, the stork carrying the baby is 2004, and the bear in the blanket sling is 2007. You can see how it is a bit bigger than the others. Still, it is cute :-)