Married couples inevitably create small traditions that when repeated year after year become part of their shared history. One of our favorite traditions is to buy a new ornament for the Christmas tree each year, a purchase we make in July.
Buying a Christmas ornament in the middle of the summer serves four purposes. One, ornaments tend to go on sale in July. And since we get ours personalized with the appropriate names/dates, I take advantage of these sales to save a little money.
Two, the simple practice of searching through ornament sites, finding the best options and sharing them with my husband reminds me that Christmas is coming. No matter how hot things are now or how much pressure the state of the world is placing on our heads, there is something joyful in our future.
Three, purchasing the annual ornament officially marks the start of my Christmas-buying season. That’s right; I’m one of those crazy folks who starts shopping for friends and family six months in advance. But doing so means I also have six months to pay off all those bills — and avoid the inevitable stress that comes from adding one more thing to my holiday “to do” list. Instead, by doing all of my shopping between now and November, I have the time to search for sales, find just the right gift (rather than settling for whatever is left on store shelves) and get it wrapped in time. Plus, with all of my shopping done, I can dedicate the month of December to baking, putting up the tree and stress-free revelry.
Lastly, buying our ornament each year reinforces my sense of optimism that we’ll still be together come Yuletide. You never know when illness or accident will strike, when economies will stumble or when Death will reap. But we bought the 2018 ornament so hopefully all will be well when we pull it out of storage in December and place it upon our tree — together.
