A Tale of Christmas Ornaments!

Today's Book Blogger Hop question is about whether you have any bookish Christmas ornaments on the tree and my very simple answer is yes... But I don't want to give a simple answer!

My Christmas tree ornaments are a source of absolute joy and there is a story attached to each of them.

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My husband and I have been together since we were 18/19 years old. The first Christmas we celebrated together was a year later. 

We bought an artificial Christmas tree that the professor hated (he wanted a real tree) and we bought some "special" individual ornaments to go along with bulk bought, plain, baubles and made the "fake tree" our own.

A reindeer, a Christmas tree and two different snowmen were the ornaments we bought. 

They weren't expensive - £3-6 each - and we bought them in a garden centre/hardware store but we still have them and we love them. 

(The bulk-bought baubles are LONG gone!)

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After we left University, we moved from our flat in Edinburgh down to the Southwest of England and the professor finally got to have his real tree! (Every. Single. Year.)

His dad had been storing some of his childhood tree ornaments for him and gave them to us. 

There's a little book with a story about a bear (and you can actually read it), a tiny little sock, a stuffed stocking, and a metal train. 

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Each and every year, we've added to our collection. 

Some are from Christmas shops and Christmas markets. Some are from craft fairs, some from garden centres. Some are from department stores. 

 Some are from museum gift shops, some from holidays (Disney World, Kennedy Space Center etc.). 

Some are from Harrods... And cost way too freaking much for an ornament.

Some are traditional, some are quirky. Some are beautiful and elegant, some are butt-ugly (and garish). 

There's a long-standing tradition of my father-in-law taking the little dude into London to buy an ornament and he bought the little dude whatever caught his eye... Thus the ugly cheetah, weird gingerbread house, ball of fluff, freaky owl... I could go on, but he has chosen some awesome ones too.

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Some, we've made ourselves.

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Some the little dude made in the early school years. 

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As we accumulated more, the professor tried to impose a "one a year" rule but that's more of a one each a year rule... And sometimes we still break it. 

This year, I bought myself a stack of books ornament. 

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This isn't all our ornaments but it's a good sampling. 

Basically, our Christmas tree is the story of us in some ways. 

I don't think we have two ornaments that match, but our tree matches us.

Our only complaint is that we're running out of tree to put them all on!

(I keep saying we just need to buy bigger trees, but does he listen? Nope.)

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Do you have a thing for individual Christmas ornaments?