Look around and everywhere you will see the aesthetically pleasing, hallmark movie-esqe, hotel and mall Christmas trees. The ones with the spherical bulbs of varying colors of silver, red, and green. I hate them. Yes, I hate them. Where is the fun? Where are the awfully (but adorably) decorated popsicle sticks with photos of yourself when you were in preschool?

My favorite part of the extravaganza of decorating our artificial, lighted Christmas tree is opening the bins of hundreds of ornaments, as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade loudly blares in the background. As I bust open the top of the bin, covered in dust from the garage, I smile looking at all the ornaments my family has collected over several years.

One by one, we take each ornament out of the box, and strategically find its home on the tree. Each ornament that we pull out always has a story, whether it be my parents threw a welcoming party their first Christmas together and had everyone bring an ornament, or we were on a trip to a new place and found a must need ornament for our family, or it’s a handmade gingerbread man from two year old me, missing some jewels or snowflakes glued on many years ago. As we discover each ornament coming out, my mom never fails to tell us the story behind them, as we sit and listen even though we hear it every year. No matter what, this is my favorite part of the holidays. Listening to my mom say, “In this one, you were just throwing a tantrum because you wanted your photo taken but it was only for the twins. The photographer felt so bad so she let you take one,” regarding a photo that I admit, I look like a little monster that got what they wanted in. 

When I think about it, I have friends who have no fun Christmas ornaments, rather the basic ones covering the shelves of Target, in the large plastic containers lined up to please the eye. Imagine going through the process of decorating the tree, an annual extravaganza, and not having a story or the ability to laugh and joke about each ornament on the tree.

Though it appears satisfying as you walk through Tyson’s or a hotel on vacation, I can not seem to fathom why you would want your home holiday decor to be basic when it can be filled with fun and excitement. I truly despise basic bulb ornaments. 

If your Christmas tree at home is covered in boring, basic ornaments, see if you can change it up a little bit! Add crafts, silly ornaments that can be found in different bins at stores, or pick up one if you go on vacation sometime soon. Over time, you will rack up fun ornaments that have their very own story, which you can tell people for generations to come!