Yearly Tradition: Photo Christmas Ornaments

When my first daughter was born, I started a tradition.  I made a photo ornament of her for our family Christmas tree, and gave one to each set of grandparents, too.  I've kept it up each year, and now, (with her younger sister getting her own ornaments too, of course), we have an entire section of our Christmas tree full of beautiful photos of our children through the years.  I love hanging those up on the tree each year, and remembering them at each stage in their lives.  In the past, I've just bought little ornament frames, and then put a small photo inside.  Except I never got around to putting the photos in the ornaments for last year's gift.  Um, oops.  That's still on my to-do list, and I should probably get around to that this weekend, when we'll put up our Christmas tree.

This year, however, I got smart.  Instead of adding another project and craft to my schedule during the hectic holiday season, I just ordered my ornaments from Shutterfly.  I ordered this hexagonal glass ornament style, but they have a whole bunch of different Christmas ornaments to choose from.  They come in these beautiful satin bags, and are just perfect.

They're made out of glass, but a kind of...almost frosted glass.  The photo is printed on the back side of the glass, but it's still slightly translucent, which makes the ornaments look absolutely amazing on the tree, with the Christmas lights shining gently through from behind, and catching on the faceted edges on the front of the ornament.  It looks like all photo ornaments are on sale this weekend, too!  What great timing!

Woo hoo!  Let's hear it for having something checked off my Christmas to-do list already!  Now to get around to choosing and printing a photo for last year's ornaments...or maybe just order more from Shutterfly and take advantage of the sale.  Yeah, I think so.