Among the sentimental treasures I have kept are ornaments. With the exception of the traditional shiny ball ornaments, that I purchased for the first few years I had my own tree, so that it was fully ornamented, there is a story or a name behind every ornament on my tree.
Every year my dad and his wife started to buy my sister and I an ornament, that had significance about something that we had done that year. I have two skiing moose ornaments that they bought the year my husband and I went skiing with them in Quebec. They found the ornaments, but personalized them by painting their ski clothes to look like the ones we wore on the trip. There is a glass alligator from the year they moved to Savannah in a house on the Inter-Coastal Waterway, with it's share of alligators lounging on the bank opposite theirs.
I have ornaments that my mom had painted, ornaments that I made as a child, ornaments that Frankie and Luci have made, ornaments from places we vacationed, and ornaments from students- and I remember each of those students when I decorate the tree.
I don't know if I could choose a favorite among them. I certainly could never get rid of any, and I add a few new ones every year, not including the ones from my dad. There is only one solution. I will just have to start putting up a second tree.
I easily could have photographed a hundred or so more, but my railroad building services were in high demand, and so I leave you with just a brief glance at a few of my favorite ornaments.