IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT

The 2009 Evans' tree, falling somewhere in between the decorating skills of a two year-old and Martha Stewart. (More closely to the former than the latter.)

My family started a tradition a few years ago where several of the ladies get together each holiday season to exchange Christmas ornaments. I think the original idea was for everyone to make homemade ornaments, but sometimes life is busy and hectic and, well, we all know how that goes. Besides, the true reason for our get-together is to have a post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas stuffathon and enjoy the company of one another; the ornaments are just a bonus.

Honestly, this is the first year that I have been able to attend the ornament exchange and put some serious effort into making ornaments. In years past, the exchange has always occurred close to finals, and I was always holed up somewhere studying/curled up in the fetal position cursing my life. However, my family has always been gracious enough to include me in the exchange regardless of my participation, something that has created wonderful memories each year as we decorate our tree.

I would like to share a few of those ornaments.

After investing my own time into making ornaments, I had a new found respect for this very detailed hand-painted lil' guy. A cousin made him a few years ago.


I love the originality of some of the ornaments. Can you guess what these next two are made out of?



Pic #1 is a bullet-turned-santa. An Aunt crafted this cute ornament a few years ago. Isn't that so original?

Pic #2 is made out of -- get this! -- the cardboard of toilet paper rolls. My grandmother made these this year, and it delighted the crap (pun intended..snort, chuckle, knee-slap, hem-haw...) out of me. So creative!

My mom made this ornament a few years ago, and I was amazed at the amount of detail and effort that she put into making these for everyone. In fact, I still am!


This year, I wanted to make an ornament that was both cost-conscious and cute at the same time so I surfed the net looking for the perfect candidate.


And this is what my end-product looked like.