I'm one of those annoying overly sentimental moms. The one who you'd freely give a hard eye roll. Nostalgia's my middle name. I will make a tradition out of anything, I post too many pictures, and I cry over and/or celebrate everything. "She burped for the first time.... our baby is growing up!"
Last year was Sadie's first Christmas, so I came up with an idea for an ornament that fulfilled all of my mommy nostalgia dreams. My idea was for a time capsule ornament that Sadie could add to every year. On her last Christmas at home (when she's 17/18?), we'd crack the ornament open and look through all of the years of drawings, notes, pictures, etc. Unfortunately, I never got around to buying the ornament last year, so I decided that this year I was going to make this new little tradition a priority.
This project is simple and fun way to make some memories, even if you're not an emotional hoarder like me. You really only need three things. The mess is optional. Your kid will enjoy it. There's no reason not to do it! Plus, your future self will be so glad you did.
I decided to let Sadie use a half sheet of white paper every year for her contribution to the time capsule. She can do whatever she wants with it... draw, glue pictures, write a note, whatever. I bought the clear bulb ornament at Walmart, but you can find them all over the place. I chose plastic, but if you're brave enough, you can go with glass. This bulb is 100mm, which is pretty large, but I think it will be a good size for fitting in all of the papers. You could get away with a smaller ornament.
I sat Sadie down at the table with her half sheet of paper and some crayons. She's perfectly content with paper and crayons these days. She could sit and color all afternoon. Next year, I'm sure she will have more of an opinion about what she wants to put on her paper. I'm excited for the days when she can write notes... those will be sweet, hilarious treasures.
I traced her hand on the middle of the paper, because I knew that my future self would love seeing how tiny her hand was. I also wrote the year since she obviously can't do that yet. I folded the paper twice (hot dog fold), then rolled it around a crayon. I tightened the rolled paper a bit, and let Sadie put it in the ornament. See you again in 16 years!
Sadie helped me add a big glittery "S" to her ornament, but that step is not necessary. As a rule, I just try to insert a little bling wherever I can. There aren't any pictures of us glittering the ornament, because I don't trust my 22-month-old alone with a jar of glitter. I wrote a big "S" on the ornament with school glue, then Sadie shook glitter all over it. Easy, but messy. Worth it! If you have more than one kid (or plan on it), you'll need to mark their ornaments somehow... get creative with it!
I added some baker's twine to hang the ornament, then let Sadie add it to the tree. She dropped it (twice). Glad I bought plastic!
I think the ornament looks super cute on the tree, and I'm so excited to fill 'er up over the years. How fun is it going to be to open it up and laugh/cry through 17 years worth of goodies from my girl?! I'm already emotional thinking about it.
Merry Christmas, y'all!
I love this idea!!
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