Jeff & I like to travel, and this year was no exception. I thought it would be fun to incorporate our trips into our Christmas tree by finding ornaments that reflect the places we’ve been and other memories from our year.

We’ll go buy a tree from a local lot that supports our neighborhood’s middle school this weekend. Here are the new additions that we’ll hang this year:

Santa on Skis
We already have a few ornaments that are skiing-related, we did meet on a ski trip, after all. While neither of us does any extreme skiing as Santa is doing here, I thought it would be a fun addition to the collection. In 2011 we took ski trips to Val Gardena, Italy, Big Sky, Montana and Valle Nevado, Chile. Valle Nevado will always hold a special place for us since that is where we met.

While in Italy we got a carved wood Nativity set, which will be another nice addition to our Christmas traditions.

We’re both Braves fans, and this year it was a fun ride, until a major late-season collapse. Such is the way for Braves fans. We took a couple of road trips to support the home team this year. First we went to Washington, DC to catch two games against the Nationals. The first game was notable with a hail delay in the early innings. They lost the first game & won the second.

Next we went out to San Francisco to watch the Braves take on the defending World Series champion Giants. We were definitely in the minority with our Braves gear on, to the point that one Giants fan even commented to Jeff about his, uh, courage showing up to root for the opposition. It was a full house, and a fairly quiet one at that. I recall being especially thankful that in Atlanta we have the fabulous & creative Braves organist to keep the crowd involved in the game. The Braves beat the Giants that night, so we went away happy.

We also saw a few games in Atlanta this year, StubHub has become our go-to source for good seats.

In May we spent an extended long weekend in St. Lucia, thanks to a great last-minute discount through Sandals resorts. We are not sit-on-the-beach-all-day people (well I’m definitely not any more) so we took advantage of some of the other resort amenities. They had a few small sailboats you could take out. I grew up on the water, and both of us had done some sailing many, many years ago. Though after a quick lesson we were ready to go again. It was lots of fun and we ended up sailing almost every day of the trip.

I documented our battle with some raccoons who invaded our attic here, and when I saw this ornament I knew we had to have it to commemorate that adventure. We hope in the future when we put this ornament on the tree that experience will remain a distant memory.

I think the ornament looks most like Three from his expression.

In October we took our first-ever cruise.

Our itinerary took us from Barcelona through the French Riviera and down the coast of Italy. Visiting a new port every day we often imagined a life of retirement on the Mediterranean. It was a fabulous time & we’re hoping to plan another cruise for 2012.

I can remember decorating the Christmas tree growing up and taking a trip down memory lane through the ornaments and other decorations. It will be fun to do the same with our own tree in years to come.

I owe special thanks to my Mother who started another family tradition a few years ago by sending me & my siblings a fresh wreath for the holidays. Ours arrived two days ago and served as the backdrop for these photos.

What are your favorite, family holiday traditions?