Many years, I have spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on ornaments. Now, I just buy what I truly love. And I try to stick with the more Christmas themed ornies as opposed to the special interests ones - like Charlie Brown or cars or Star Trek... that sort of thing. I stick with Santas, Snowmen, Angels and any others that just really appeal to me. I ALWAYS get the Feliz Navidad ornament every year. Since I speak Spanish fluently, it just seems fitting. I also like the Crayola ones and basically any tin litho ones.
Honestly, I have enough to decorate several trees, but the Evil Twin limits it to one tree. I try to rotate them around and generally use the current years' ornaments first, then pick from past years' by best loved (which is most of them, so you can imagine how difficult it is to choose!).
We went to the Hallmark Shop today, as it's the Ornament Debut, which is not a good name for it - the ornaments are out in July. Well, most of them anyway. There are others that come out in October (hence, the Debut) and still others that come out in November - which is the Open House.
I belong to both the national Ornament collecting club and a local one here. Us local members get special perks for being members, such as early peaks and we get to put our orders together months in advance, then the store employees fill our bags first, then put whatever's left on the shelf. That way, we don't miss out on any hot sellers or ornaments we really want.
So, today, I got my October ornaments, picked up a few cards and got 40% off one ornament and 15% off the rest of my order! Woot!
Then, the Evil Twin and I and the kids went mattress shopping. The sales guy was willing to wheel and deal, so I got a real bargain on a nice mattress, box springs and metal rail (we don't use a headboard because they are toooooo squeaky!!! LOL). Free delivery too and it'll be here on Tuesday! I can't wait.
Overall, a really fun and exciting day. We ran a lot of little errands so those are out of the way and we can enjoy the rest of our long weekend by just hanging out at home and catching up on home chores.
Time to make my blogging rounds - although many of you don't update over the weekend.... Hmmmph.
The only thing I hate about Hallmark ornaments is their weight.
ReplyDeleteUnless you have a tree with huge limbs, the limbs droop and then shed the ornaments onto the floor.
Couldn't they make them any lighter?
You married on my birthday!
ReplyDeleteI love many of the Hallmark ornaments, but only have a few of them.
ReplyDeleteThe longer I'm married, the more the tree looks like a "Dallas Cowboy" tree than a Christmas Tree.
I tried to get my daughter to 'help' in that arena; SHE is an NC State (Wolfpack! Woot!) fan.
It's looking a lot like ESPN around here.
We have enough ornaments for five trees. We have all my wife's fathers, some from my parents and all we collected as a couple in the last 20+ years.
ReplyDeleteWe always put up two trees. One upstairs in the front window and one in the finished basement.
Anon - I agree. Especially the "Magic" ornaments, so I try to avoid buying those unless I can set them out on a mantel or somewhere for display. Even our artificial tree branches struggle with the heavier ones.
ReplyDeleteKenju - yay! I knew that was a great day!
Renn - Hallmark does sports themed ones every year, perhaps you can collect those and send a pic to Hallmark with your ESPN tree. :-)
Lenny - I think we've discussed my addiction before. Maybe I can talk the ET into buying a smaller artificial tree when they go on sale after the season and we could do one for downstairs, tool.
I am not an ornament person...On sale at Walmart? They're fine. I think it is great that you are collecting them.
ReplyDeleteAs for the headboard problem? Get a footboard too and slats not just a metal frame.