Learn how to decorate a meaningful Christmas tree using all those sentimental ornaments you’ve collected over the years.
We’re thrilled to be joining 17 talented bloggers today for a festive and fun Christmas tree blog hop hosted by our friend Stacy from Stacy Ling/Bricks ‘n’ Blooms. She’s an amazing gardener from AnnMarie’s home state of New Jersey. If you ever want great gardening tips, she’s your gal!
If you’re new to our blog, Hello and welcome to Simply2Moms!
We’re friends who are lucky to live across the street from each other, and we’d love to be friends with you.
After all, if you’re here right now we must have stuff in common!
We love sharing simple (and budget-friendly!) ideas for home decor and DIYs. Plus some healthy meal inspiration and recipes, and tips for raising teens and beyond.
But you’re here for Christmas tree decorating ideas, right?
We’ve both always admired other people’s themed Christmas trees.
You know the ones.
They have a cohesive color scheme, and are filled with gorgeous ornaments that together coordinate with the decorating in the rest of the room.
And someday, we’ll have a tree or two like that!
In fact, AnnMarie has a really pretty farmhousey tree in the front room of her house.
But right now?
Our trees tell our families’ story.
Even though we both fill our trees with family ornaments, we each do it a little differently.
But we both found unique ways to remember 2020 on our trees that we’ve shared at the end of this post!
AnnMarie’s Memory-filled Christmas Tree
The story of AnnMarie’s family tree actually starts before any decorations are added!
We’ll let her tell you all about it.
My family tree is a real tree and we choose it together every year right after Thanksgiving.
For years we’ve gone to the mountains to cut down a tree, but the past few years we’ve ended up getting our tree from a local market.
It’s getting harder to make the trip to the mountains all together as the kids are getting older.
But we make it a priority to choose our tree together, as a family.
Let’s take a look at how we decorate our tree!
Since my kids were born, I have bought them each a new ornament every year.
Their first ornament was usually a “baby’s first Christmas” theme.
Although Jake, being the first born, probably had four ornaments. LOL
I loved buying them from the kiosk in the middle of our local mall where they could be personalized with their name and the year.
As they got older, I loved choosing an ornament based on their hobbies or something they really liked that year.
For instance, Gavin’s ornament when he was seven was a soccer bear.
When we moved to North Carolina, I started getting more creative with their ornaments!
For a few years, we actually made ornaments together each year.
We bought DIY ornaments from Michael’s. The kids would decorate them using permanent metallic markers.
One year we went to Disney in November and decided to buy the kids’ yearly ornaments while we were there.
They all ended up choosing the same ornament, but in a different color! After all, who doesn’t love Mickey?!
Jake’s favorite color was blue, Gavin loved red, and Emma was all about pink.
Now that my kids are getting older, we’re starting to commemorate some big milestones with their ornaments.
When Jake graduated from University of South Carolina last year, we bought him an ornament from his school.
Recently, in addition to the kids’ ornaments, we’ve been buying family ornaments.
I love making an ornament using the photo from our yearly Christmas card.
By the way, I love getting Christmas cards each year!
One of my favorite traditions is to make a book from the Christmas cards we’ve received from our family and friends.
We all love looking through these Christmas card books each year when I pull them out.
Now, let’s head across the street and take a look at Anne’s family’s sentimental Christmas tree.
Anne’s Meaningful Christmas Tree
Hey everyone! I love that AnnMarie’s family chooses a tree together each year.
Unfortunately, both me and my son are allergic to pine, so we’ve had a fake tree ever since we found out.
Since my house doesn’t smell like a fresh Christmas tree, I rely on this candle to make my house smell Christmasy!
But I’m getting off track.
Just like AnnMarie, my tree is filled with ornaments that bring back memories.
In fact, some of my ornaments are from my childhood tree!
This Santa is probably my most treasured ornament on my meaningful Christmas tree.
I received it from my mom’s parents for my first Christmas.
I can remember hanging it on the tree every year growing up!
At my wedding shower, my mom gave me a special box. I opened it and found this ornament plus a few other sentimental ones from growing up.
I cried.
And it still makes me a little verklempt every year when I unwrap it!
The year we got married, my closest childhood friend got us this ornament for our first Christmas.
Like AnnMarie, I began buying an ornament for my kids as soon as they were born!
And like my grandmother, all three of my kids’ grandmother’s began buying them each an ornament every year.
So my tree is full after 21 years!
And I love it!
In addition to all the ornaments we’ve bought, our tree includes all the ornaments my kids made in preschool and school.
Even our tree collar is the result of a craft!
We also love buying an ornament every time we take a family vacation.
It’s fun finding something truly iconic for where we’ve gone like this Chicago sign.
A few years ago Kevin and I started taking grown up trips with AnnMarie & Chris and two other couples.
So I love buying an ornament to remember those trips too!
Our tree even includes some truly random ornaments from ornament exchanges AnnMarie has hosted at our framily Christmas parties!
So basically, every year we decorate our tree we take a walk down memory lane.
Remembering 2020 on Our Christmas Trees
We think we can all agree that 2020 has been a year for the record books.
Hopefully it’s a year that has been and will be like no other!
So of course we’ve commemorated this year on our meaningful Christmas trees.
AnnMarie purchased an ornament from a local crafter.
Anne gave each of her kids the same ornament this year that she found on Amazon.
When they opened them up before decorating the tree everyone had a big laugh!
Do you have a meaningful Christmas tree or other special ways you decorate for Christmas?
We’d love to hear about them!
Tell us your favorite meaningful Christmas tradition in the comments below.
We hope you enjoyed seeing our trees today!
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You can also find us over on TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook so you don’t miss any of our tips, tricks, or stories!
You can find links to all the other bloggers participating today below.
Wait Until You See These Amazing Christmas Tree Decorating Ideas!
Bricks ‘n Blooms // White Arrows Home // The Ponds Farmhouse
My Thrift Store Addiction // Down Shiloh Road
Dabbling and Decorating // The Tattered Pew // J Dub By Design
Simply2Moms // Blue Sky at Home
County Road 407 // Shiplap and Shells // Follow The Yellow Brick Home
The Flowering Farmhouse // My Wee Abode // Calypso in the Country
Cottage on Bunker Hill // This is Simplicite
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