The Aberlich Christmas Ornament Tradition

Every year at our Aberlich Family Christmas Party… there was really only ONE present I couldn’t wait for...

ONE present I wanted to open right away...

ONE present I was dying to see...

And it was Aunt Donna’s Christmas ornament!

See, every year since I can remember, my Aunt Donna would make a different Christmas ornament for all of the “grandkids”. It was always a surprise. Sometimes they’d all be the same, and sometime’s there would be little variations, or our names would be on them.

But every year she MADE these ornaments. Usually finding ideas from craft books, stores, or magazines. And it became a tradition in our family that I always looked forward to.

(To the Right: A snap shot of my Christmas tree shows 3 of Aunt Donna's ornaments in one little section.)
Well… you gotta grow up sometime, right? And when the grandchildren started having kids of their own, Aunt Donna started getting too many “orders” (if you will) pouring in every year!

So once we were all old enough to either have our own children or our own houses, Aunt Donna decided it was time to pass the Christmas Ornament torch onto the younger generation.

Being, well… ME… I enthusiastically “volunteered” (A.K.A. took the job, giving no one else a say! LOL).

So… for the last 4 years I have been making the Aberlich Christmas Ornaments for the ever-expanding “great-grandchildren”.

I admit, I worry every year that they won’t measure up to Aunt Donna’s (because, let’s face it, she’s pretty amazing!)… but I absolutely LOVE having this responsibility!

It is a tradition so special and unique to our family, and I honestly feel so honored to be a part of it.

I won’t divulge the ornament for this year, yet (The kids need to be the first one’s to see it!). But I will blog it once our party is over and it is hanging on all 10 (yes, I said 10) Christmas Trees!

But here’s a peek at the ornaments from years past:


Christmas 2006 – Wooden Snowman

My first ornament. It’s a wood snowman I found at JoAnn’s and I just fell in love with it. It’s definitely “Stephanie” style. I painted it and added the buttons and scarf. Decent for the first year.

Christmas 2007 – Cork Reindeer

Alright, so I got a little slack the first year for not carving the wood! LOL So I tried to go a little more crafty this year! I found this adorable cork reindeer somewhere and tried my darndest to copy it.

Christmas 2008 – Button Beard Santa

Again, I found this adorable idea somewhere on the internet and did my best to copy it. This one is a favorite of mine so far. I love the buttons!

Christmas 2009 – Baba & Deda’s Shelf Elfs

This ornament will probably go down in history, in my mind at least. This ornament is a combination of things made by my Baba & Deda (Grandma & Grandpa in Serbian) and myself. It has very special meaning to all of us. The blog describing the making of this ornament will be coming soon.

Stay tuned to find out how this wonderful tradition continues this year....

~ Stephanie Alicia
P.S. If you like the ideas in this blog, please share this post with everyone you know! Take a minute to comment below, post on Facebook, Twitter... or email out to your friends and family! Please and Thank You! :)