Twas the night before Christmas, when all through our flat; not a creature was stirring, not the four dogs or the three fish, not Lincoln the cat, the frog, or even the three rats. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, Dad was on his third beer ready to be done with this holiday affair. The children were nestled all snug in their beds, haha, not really. They were screaming and crying and asking to open presents incessantly. And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, furiously wrapping last minute gifts and prodigal crap.
I might have earned a reputation for being a Grinch over the past few years and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s probably well deserved. I am not a fan of Christmas time. I loath shopping for people and the crowds, although Amazon Prime helps with the latter. I abhor having to hear people complain about the mythical ‘War on Christmas’. I think even Baby Jesus is sick and tired of hearing Mariah Carey sing “All I want for Christmas”. I could go on but I bet you get the point.
Having kids has made the most miserable wonderful time of the year negligibly more bearable. Their joy and excitement infect you like a jolly little virus. They also provide a good excuse for purchasing toys that I really want to play with. Yes, Santa, 2-year-old little Sally really does want that Arduino.
But even this Grinch has some holiday kryptonite which warms my heart ever so much. We have a family tradition where we paint clear ornaments with scenes of significant events from the year. We have ornaments for each kids birth, when we bought a new house, added a new pet to our menagerie, had family from out of town over. It’s a great way for us to all do something creative as a family and to reflect over the past year. It also makes decorating our tree more enjoyable, decorating with memories is far superior to simple colorful orbs.
The tradition started I was looking for a way out of buying gifts and instead give my wife something personal for a Christmas present. I thought it would be fun to give her some painted ornaments of small and important things in our lives, mostly our pets at the time. Long story short, the ornaments were a hit and it evolved into our little family ritual.
Now that we are a family of four, sixteen if you include the pets, our ornament subject matter has expanded quite a bit. We paint things such as interesting pop-culture events from the year, the kid’s current interests, our hobbies, and trips we have taken. The kids are always excited to paint anything and I always enjoy trying to outshine my wife’s impressively superior painting abilities, but I never do.
As Christmas Day is quickly approaching and I am doing my best to not be a complete Scrooge, I took a look at our Christmas tree and was reminded even though I am not a holiday person I have lots to be thankful for and I wanted to look on the merry side and share some of my favorite ornaments we have made.
Our First House
We loved this little place but needed more space with a growing family
Our second house
More space for all those xmas gifts :/
Fetus's First Christmas
While expecting our first kid, one of my favorites because I like to laugh at my own jokes
Mitch & Jimmy
We used to have turtles, they were stinky, we no longer have turtles
Dakota
I taught her lots of sick 80's movie style Frisbee tricks. Check that one off my bucket list.
Christmas Scene
Painted by my Step-Dad, love seeing what other people choose to paint
Echo
Our lovable dog who is amazingly clumsy and has the bark of a dog twice her size
Christmas Scene 2.0
I enjoy seeing how different people paint the same subject matter and how they use the space
Space
Our daughter loves space and is really into Star Wars, so I wanted to capture that
Darth Vader
One of our three rats, all named after Star Wars characters. Did I mention our daughter is really into Star Wars?
It's a Boy
When expecting our second child, not as funny as a fetus but executed way better
Hand print
Our daughters hand print, it's hard to believe her hand was ever that small
Copper
Copper was super sweet, he was also frustratingly mischievous. We loved that dog
Wedding Day
I think my wife captured my luscious locks fairly well
Trees & Snow
A little hard to see, but I love these little nature scene my wife paints
Winter Landscape
Painted by my father-in-law, he by far paints the best looking ornaments we have done