Ornaments

I know that once upon a time my Grandma Nelson used to make us pajamas for Christmas.  But that was long before she had nearly 50 grandchildren.  I'm grateful that at some point, she switched from pajamas to making us each a Christmas ornament.  Back in the day, Grandpa would cut out each piece, and Grandma (an amazing toll painter) would hand paint each one.  Check out this ornament from 1986.

 Back in '86, though, I'm thinking there was only twenty five or so of us.  Now in 2010, I have nearly fifty cousins, most of whom are married with two or three or five kids of their own.  Each year, Grandma and Grandpa still make an ornament for each grandchild and each great grandchild.  If married, the grandkids' ornaments look something like this one from 2009.  Kirk gets to share my ornament, and the snowmen represent each of our children.

Even though this year's design was simple, the kids love them, and I love that they are red so they can go on my tree.  (Yeah, I'm a Christmas tree Nazi, and if it doesn't match - no matter how sentimental - it doesn't get put on.)  I actually told Kirk that now I want a whole tree full of them, but he said then they wouldn't be special anymore.  Yeah, yeah.  I still kind of want a tree full of them.

Aren't they perfect?