Cottages and Castles Creative Designs

Christmas Soldier Ornaments – Creating a New Family Tradition

Every Christmas our family gets a new ornament to put on the tree. We each get our own and put our name and the year on it. Some years we buy our ornaments, others we make them and sometimes, we use one a friend has given us. And as a bonus, Nana makes one for our family each year. It was a tradition and special memory for me growing up and it is still one of my favorite Christmas traditions as I carried it on.

I love decorating the tree and seeing all our different ornaments from past years. It brings back so many memories about why my kids chose certain ornaments and the meaning behind them.

This year, I decided to make everyone an ornament. I wanted to start a new tradition.  A couple of years ago, I was listening to our church’s yearly Christmas devotional and one of our leaders talked about a tradition he and his wife had started many years ago. They were living in London at the time and to remember their time there, she made British Soldiers from old-fashioned wooden clothespins as their ornaments that year. You can listen to their tradition and see their ornaments here.

For two years now, it has been my hope to make them for our Christmas tree. I was determined to do it and I’m so happy to add them this year! I decided I wanted every soldier to represent a family member. I painted each one with everyone’s individual hair color and the soldier’s shirt was their favorite color. I put them on this year’s Christmas tree and the tradition will be for everyone to look for theirs!

Here’s how I did it!