Bill and I have this tradition – no matter where we go we MUST buy a Christmas ornament. When we first married, it was something different. Originally, we would seek out a local artist and purchase one of his / her paintings depicting the region we were visiting. One of my hallways is filled with these sort of drawings. We, quickly, realized that we would eventually run out of room and decided to change our plans.
So, we shifted to Christmas ornaments. But after over a decade of travel together… our tree is getting a little crammed. During our Christmas party last year, one of our friends made fun of our tree and I totally got it. It looks INSANE – and it gets worse after each passing year. LOL
But – I feel like it’s an easy way to track where we’ve been and during Christmas we all sort of reminisce about the last few months of excursions.
I will probably purchase a second tree before quitting this habit. And no I’m not kidding!
Do you stock up on souvenirs when you travel? What do you buy when you visit a new location? My mother is big on salt and pepper shakers.
Vera Sweeney is a mom of two beautiful children and the founder of 
at 11:24 pm
I like the ornament idea. I would definitely buy a second tree and just put your travel pieces on it. I know friends that have a regular family tree and another theme tree every year.
at 9:19 pm
When I’ve gone away, I always have a very sad place in my heart that my daughter Olivia is not with us on that trip (she passed away). So to try to do something with that feeling…..I buy one thing in honor of her. A purple butterfly trinket, the most glittery, girly kind of whatever that made me think of her, etc.
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at 9:49 pm
I like to buy refrigerator magnets in every city I visit, and also a few collectible spoons for my mother-in-law
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