Christmas Tree Traditions

There is no better time to celebrate traditions than during the holidays, and some of our favorites are Christmas tree traditions. These decorations and the stories around them can be be rich with love and personality. We decided to not only share ours, but some of yours too. It’s always fun to hear of others traditions and maybe incorporate some of them into our holiday season as well.

Christmas tree ornament stories

It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t love a beautifully lit and decorated tree in their home every Christmas. Sure, some of us dread getting all the stuff out – my living room is always filled with boxes! And putting it up can be a task, but once it’s done, it’s a thing of wonder and beauty. The best part? The memories it brings with each ornament on the tree.  I think my cousin-in-law, Sandy Sacks, said it best when she said, “It fills the house with family both far away and gone.” She doesn’t live close by a lot of her family, and so for her, those ornaments make her feel close. I think we all feel that in one way or another. Sandy noted that she could go on and on with her decorations and telling a story about each one.

That’s exactly how I feel about our tree. When Mat and I were first married I was determined to have a fancy and uniform tree. I spent a great deal of time creating these little wrapped packages that I would fix to almost every branch and I was very particular about where each ornament went. I would look at the tree and move things around so they were in just the right spot.

Then one year our Christmas tree traditions changed. I’m not sure why or what happened, but once I became a mom, my tree became a thing of beauty in another way – in a kid’s way. The tree started filling up with little kid ornaments. Plus, we started collecting ornaments when we went on vacations. As we would hang the ornaments we would talk about our trips and why we picked the ones we did.

A Christmas tree tradition for kids

Lisa Peterson has a similar kid and memory tree. Hers is filled with ornaments her four children have made throughout the years. She admits her tree has filled up fast between her four kids, but she loves the memories they evoke now that they are growing so quickly. They love it too. “They love looking at them and telling memories about that time in their life. A lot of the ornaments have a picture of them on it,” Lisa said.

Jenni Kozak also has a “child-decorated” tree as she calls it. She has passed many of her children’s ornaments to them as they have moved out, but she is now carrying on the tradition with her grandchildren, letting them have special ornaments on her tree. She also has an ornament that’s a pickle that she hides on the tree – whoever finds it gets a special prize.

A Christmas tree storytelling tradition

As our kids grew, we added Christmas tree traditions. For example, we began to buy an ornament with each year on it. Then we let our kids pick ornaments each year. As we got more kids we started a tradition of having our kids line up and as Mat would unwrap each ornament he’d tell the story of the ornament. I love hearing the stories, even though they are mostly the same every year.

We have this fancy Goofy ornament and my oldest broke it when he was about 3. Every year we tell the story of the broken ornament and (now) we can laugh about it. He’s an adult now, so let’s hope we can laugh about it. We tease how our oldest has about 10 baby’s first Christmas ornaments and how with each child we bought less and less, kind of like snapping pictures.  One year he created his own spot on the tree with all “his ornaments.” When they move away, the kids will take their ornaments and stories with them.

Related: Is family storytelling and family history for kids? Yes!

Homemade Christmas tree ornaments

Dave Hulme and his wife have Christmas tree traditions that have been passed down from their families. One is a homemade ornament tradition. “With five kids the tree is pretty full,” he said. The tradition comes from when his aunt would send her handmade ornaments to him and his siblings when he was a child. He loves that his wife has continued that handmade ornament tradition.

Lulelila Spraycar’s tradition is one I’ve never heard of, but it is something unique and sweet that involves her children throughout the Christmas season. She has six children and like me, when her kids were tiny she gave up on the idea of a fancy tree. “So I boxed up all my Christmas decor and put it into a deep dark closet, of which it has yet to see the light of day,” she said. Now, each year she puts her tree up on December 1 and it sits empty. Every other day from there she and her children make an ornament to be hung on the tree.

She has a variety of ornament – some super fancy, some cutouts from a coloring book. On crazy days she pulls out the boxes of candy canes or things that can be easily strung and hung. “By the time Christmas comes along the tree is laden with all kinds of things and each has a precious memory attached to it. As my kids have got older I asked them if they would like to pull out the boxes and decorate the tree, I have got a unanimous, ‘No.'” What fun! I love this idea.

Ornaments from Grandparents

Our tree is such a hodgepodge of different things. Sometimes I think I should take a step back, maybe add another tree or something, but then I always decide against it.

We also have ornaments from grandparents that both Mat and I cherish. He has these cool whirly-gig ornaments that spin when placed on top of a hot light. With the invention of LEDs, there’s not much spinning, but the memory is still sweet for both of us. I also have some old Ogden temple ornaments that my grandma gave to me.

Then there’s the star. My grandma gave it to Mat and me on our first Christmas as a married couple. It came from a trip to London and she bought it for her tree and decided it didn’t go. She knew we were poor college students and wanted us to have it. It will top my tree forever because it reminds me of her.

Related: It’s Your Turn – Write your Own Christmas Story

A Christmas tree is a gift

I love my friend Melani Anderson’s tree philosophy. She loves a beautiful tree and loves creating that beauty for her family. Instead of having her children fill her tree with handmade ornaments wherever and whenever, she has a fancy tree that she decorates for her family to enjoy and then she started putting trees in their own rooms for them to decorate how they like it.  There are so many great Christmas tree traditions!

She says, “As they’ve gotten older and life has become busier, I’d attempt to simplify my festive efforts. It’s been interesting how important those traditions are to my children! They each have their favorite detail and express a desire that I not forget it. It’s become the gift I give them…my talent I share.” She has a fairy tree because of the Fablehaven book series that her kids love and then a Santa tree, the one that has become beloved. “Because even my oldest know if you don’t believe, you don’t receive.”

Artificial or real?

We at the Trotter house are fake tree all the way. In our first years of marriage we tried real trees, but I was always nervous about fires (I know, WEIRD.) I often feel a little envious of the pictures I see of people going to tree farms and picking out awesome trees, but then I remember I am OCD about the fire thing and I need to be able to sleep at night.

Dave and his family get a tree permit and hit the mountains to find a perfect tree. He said they “drag” it across the snow, afix to the to the top of the van, and all is well – except for that broken finger a few years back from trying to save a branch from an automatic van door. The things we do in the name of tradition, right?

Related: Tradition and stories – like bread and butter

Christmas trees – a beautiful tradition

The reality I’ve found is that everyone’s tree is a thing of beauty. I’ve not seen many trees I don’t think are beautiful to be honest. Because, just like people, they all have that unique something-special that brings out the beauty.

We would still love to hear more of your tree traditions. Don’t hesitate to comment and share. We love the ideas and the sweet stories behind your tree traditions!

Rachel J. Trotter is a senior writer/editor at Evalogue.Life – Tell Your Story. She tells people’s stories and shares hers to encourage others and especially loves family storytelling. A graduate of Weber State University, Rachel has had articles featured on LDSLiving.com and Mormon.org. She and her husband, Mat, have six children and live on the East Bench in Ogden, Utah.