Beautiful and Unusual Christmas Ornaments

The first Christmas that my husband and I spent together, we decided to create a new Christmas tree. We decorated it with icicles, snowflakes, and birds.

Ever since then, we're always on the lookout for new and unusual ornaments to add to the tree. We try to add one or two every year. Over the years, I've discovered a few excellent sources for more unusual or exceptionally pretty ornaments. So if you're looking to add to your tree, here are a few places to check out!

Bronner's Christmas Wonderland
Bronner's bills itself as "The World's Largest Christmas Store," and I'm inclined to believe them. The variety of ornaments they carry is unbelievable. This is a great place to look if you're in search of a specific ornament or type of ornament, including lots of options for personalized items to give as gifts. Here are just a few examples of the out-of-the-ordinary items they carry.

Bronner's extensive collection of European-made ornaments includes several sets of handmade lace hangings. Sets of three are only $8.95.

If you're a fan of Rankin and Bass Christmas specials, this set of four "Jingle Buddies" from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is for you. $14.99 for the set of four, which includes Rudolph, Clarice, Hermie (or is it Herbie? You decide!), and of course, the Abominable. Sorry, Yukon Cornelius is not part of the set, but if you miss him (as you should), you can pick up these figurines for your mantel (although they're a bit pricey at $37.50 for the trio):

If you like more unusual shapes, sizes, and colors, this painted Faberge-style egg will add an elegant and colorful touch to your tree, for $19.99. 

This tiny clip-on hummingbird may make its way to my "bird tree" sometime soon. For only $2.99, I might get myself a small flock. 

If humorous or themed items are your thing, this Santa waiting patiently in a hunting blind (hopefully it's not one of the slower reindeer he's watching through his binocs) may be for you. For $7.99, pick one up for your favorite hunter!

World Market

Another great place to find unusual, handmade, imported decorations is World Market, whose tagline is "Unique, authentic, and always affordable." They carry a wide range of style, from rustic animals made from wood and raffia, to hand blown glass figures, to ethnic or regional items. Many items come in sets of 2-4 pieces, either identical or similar. 

These charming faux fur boots come with brown ribbon hangers and pom-pom accents. $14.67 for a set of three. 

This pair of jute snowflakes can be either tree ornaments or wall hangings. $12.78 for the pair. 

These traditional wooden nutcrackers are festooned with just a touch of glitter and have sturdy bases so they can be arranged on a mantel or table as well as hung on the tree. $29.98 for the two. 

If you love multiples of the same ornament, a package of a dozen of these laser-cut wooden hearts showing a pair of doves lighting in an olive tree is only $7.99. 

Frontgate

I've always enjoyed browsing the Frontgate catalog, but to me it was "Hammacher Schlemmer meets Pottery Barn" - in other words, too high-end and expensive, the champagne taste to my beer budget. But although their prices may be higher than some of the other vendors on this list, they're not outrageous, and their items are certainly all excellent quality and truly beautiful. 

These four exquisite ornaments each feature an impossibly tiny nativity scene inside a glass globe. Ranging in price from $29.50 to $66.50, any one of them could easily serve as the centerpiece of a very special collection.

If you like your snowflakes to have some sparkle, this trio of gem-studded snowflakes is perfect for you. Crafted from iron wire and glass stones, these sparkly snowflakes are sturdy yet delicate. Set of three for $38.

If there's a dog lover on your gift list, and you're feeling generous, this is the site for finding the perfect dog ornament. Almost any breed you can imagine (Bernese mountain dog, shih tzu, French bulldog, Westie, corgi, pug, bichon, cavalier spaniel, chihuahua, Wheaton terrier, St. Bernard, Australian shepherd, just to name a few) can be found with sweater, without sweater, or with jeweled sweater. Just like the breeds themselves, the prices cover quite a range, but are generally between $50 and $150.

Overstock
Overstock.com carries a surprisingly varied line of tree ornaments, from gold and crystal baubles to rustic handmade items from India and South America to traditional styles.

This 24K goldplated icicle holds multiple glass crystals which catch the light and enhance the sparkle of the whole tree. $18.29 each.

This set of golden acorns gives a subtle, natural glitter to your tree. 

This charming yarn bird from Colombia adds character and personality to your tree. For about $10-$15 each, if he looks lonely, you can add his friends: pig, dog, sheep, beaver, snail, monkey, frog, and more. 

This gold and sequined peacock ornament is handmade in India, and adds an unusual ethnic touch as well as a sparkle of non-traditional color to the tree. $15.65 each.

For more homespun charm, you can't go wrong with these cookie dough Santa heads, each with a different color hat and a differently styled white beard. Set of 6 for $12.99.

Pier One
If you're just looking for cute and inexpensive ornaments, go no further than Pier One.

This graceful leaping deer sparkles with gems, sequins, and glitter. $5.95.

This traditional style bauble is painted with the nativity scene, complete with Mary and Joseph holding the baby Jesus, while the three Wise men solemnly process in with their gifts. The price of $14.36 includes a beautiful keepsake storage box. 

This charming little reindeer has beaded legs which dangle. For $3.96 each, you can get the full set of 8 plus Rudolph!

When Santa's not on duty, he has to leave his hat and pants somewhere, right? Why not on a tiny hanger, looking festive on your tree? $4.76. 

This rustic little pinecone owl wears a cheerful knitted Christmas sweater and is dusted with festive snow. $4.95


So if your tree seems to be missing a little something this year, now you know where to go to find it!

Awesome Christmas Projects I'll Never Do

I am dedicating today’s blog entry to all the people who, like me, love to look up beautiful and creative Christmas crafts that – let’s be honest, here – they will never, EVER, actually make. I am always finding great ideas in craft stores, on Pinterest, even in other people’s houses, that I would love to do, that I am perfectly capable of doing, but that I am quite certain I never actually will do. I can’t claim that it’s because I don’t have the time, because some of these projects could easily be done in an afternoon, many of them with the help (well, “help”) of my children. I can’t claim it’s because I don’t have the supplies, because many of them use common household materials. I suppose I should just come right out and admit that it’s probably because I’m lazy. Or at least because I would feel guilty about spending time making these projects when I have a sink full of dirty dishes and a laundry hamper full of dirty clothes and a husband who’d like to have some adult conversation with me sometime this month. But whatever the reason, I still enjoy looking at the pictures and pretending that someday I might possibly create these items to decorate my home for the holidays. So if you enjoy looking and dreaming, too, please enjoy these creative holiday projects which will never, ever grace your home unless someone more motivated than you makes them for you as a gift.

Progressive Nativity Scenes

The wife of my former pastor collects nativity scenes. She must have a hundred of them. At Christmastime, her husband’s church is filled with her nativities, tucked into every nook and cranny imaginable. She has painted wooden ones, carved stone ones, gilt-trimmed ceramic ones, crystal ones, straw ones, rustic ones, artistic ones, simple ones, detailed ones. Her collection would be perfect for making this progressive nativity. Instead of a single scene, as most of us have, this corner cabinet has carefully printed verses and corresponding scenes that begin with Mary being visited by the angel, then giving birth in the manger, then the Christ Child being worshipped by the shepherd, and finally the arrival of the Magi. It’s lovely, it’s meaningful, and even if I had four different (or four identical, which is what the original creator seems to have had) nativity sets, I would never manage to set this up. It’s about all I can do to hang my tinfoil-covered cardboard star over my manger scene. The fact that my husband and I have spent 8 Christmases together and only got an angel for our nativity scene last February should be proof enough that this will never happen in my house. But it’s a nice thought.

Fridge (or Door) Snowman

I love this idea. I think it is incredibly cute. And really, all you need is a few circles cut out of black construction paper, a few rectangles made of green and red construction paper, and a carrot cut from orange construction paper. The hat isn’t even necessary!! But here’s the problem: I have a stainless steel fridge with French doors and a bright green front door. I cannot be bothered to cover either one with huge pieces of white paper. I guess my kids will have to be content with making real snowmen or taping tiny black paper circles to an ordinary-sized sheet of white paper. It’s another cute idea that will just never happen in my house.

Advent Calendars

Oh my goodness, there must be 100 times the number of homemade advent calendar options as there are days in the advent calendar. Back when I was single and childless and many of my family and friends had young children, I found directions for an adorable DIY felt advent calendar and made sets for several families. Now that I have my own children, I admit that I am grateful to the friend who gives me two chocolate-filled, store-bought advent calendars every year. As much as I would love for my children to read a pithy Bible verse each day in December and add a character to the manger scene, I am relieved that they can eat a Hershey’s kiss and see a picture of Santa and his reindeer every day instead. I want them to know the Bible story, but I have no problem with Santa presenting them with chocolate if it means I didn’t have to cut a thousand tiny shapes out of felt and attack them with my glue gun. I love my glue gun and all, but I have other things to do between Thanksgiving and December 1st. If Hershey’s gives me a shortcut, hooray for Hershey’s.

Christmas Cards

The first year I was married, my husband and I debated whether or not we would start a tradition of sending Christmas cards. My parents always had; I had sent a few, although mainly I sent “virtual cards,” preferably the Jacqui Lawson interactive cards. Sending a physical greeting card, with a family photo or a Bible verse or a lovely winter scene, was just not our thing. We ended up not bothering and just sending friends Facebook greetings or emails or posting a cute family photo on Google Plus for all to enjoy. Christmas cards have become rather passé, and we have let them fall by the wayside, for better or for worse. I often have wonderful ideas of how we could dress everyone up and take a lovely photo to use for a Christmas card, but even when that has actually happened (grand total of times: 1), it ends up just being posted on Facebook with love for all. I can live with that.

Sock Snowmen

I have a very large bag of unmatched socks on top of my clothes dryer; I certainly have enough orphaned socks to make an army of sock snowmen. But as adorable and as easy as they are, this will never happen. Hope springs eternal that every sock in my “orphan sock bag” will find its mate. I simply can’t bring myself to admit defeat and use any of these poor lost socks as a project. I just know that the instant I do, their mate will magically appear in the next load of laundry. So as cute as these snowmen are, I can never bring myself to make them, for fear that their mates will then appear, and the sweet smiles on their faces will turn into accusing stares of betrayal.

Fingerprint/Handprint Ornaments

Ornaments with children’s fingerprints and handprints are a lovely keepsake that parents love to pass on to the children who made them, many years later. However, the number of attempts required to result in a single, usable, non-disastrous ornament is at least in the double digits, if not the triple. Convincing a small child to dip just a fingertip in paint or to stand still long enough to coat his or her entire hand evenly with paint is next to impossible. And, of course, once the child’s part is finally done, the parent needs to have a steady enough hand to add the required details: reindeer antlers, eyes, a red nose; snowmen’s buttons, coal smiles, carrot noses, and stick arms. Any parent who has not started drinking heavily by the time a successful part A is achieved is a better human being than I. I’ll leave this type of ornament to brave preschool teachers.

Anything Involving Glitter

I blame Martha Stewart for this “cover everything in glitter” trend. Ornaments, bottles, mugs, branches, popsicle sticks, the family dog…you name it, someone on Pinterest has directions on how to cover it in glitter. But here’s the problem with glitter: IT NEVER GOES AWAY. If you use glitter in your house once, you will find bits of glitter hanging around for the next century. You’ll find some, days later, stuck in your belly button and in your hair. Weeks later, you’ll still be sweeping it from the kitchen floor. Months later, it’ll still be appearing in the carpet. Years later, you’ll pull up a rug or bring a box down from the attic or empty out the tank of the hot water heater, and BOOM! More glitter. IT NEVER GOES AWAY. Nope, no glitter for this mama if I can avoid it.

Decoupage

If you were alive during the 1970s, you know the words “Mod Podge.” You may even have watched a craft show on television called “Mod Podge Lodge.” In this show, chirpy, cheerful hosts used industrial quality paper mache (brand name Mod Podge) to adhere bits of wallpaper, old greeting cards, Epsom salts, glitter, or old photographs to every smooth surface imaginable. This technique, officially called “decoupage,” has fallen somewhat by the wayside, yet it still reappears during the Christmas season every year. You can decoupage old tiles to create drink coasters, you can decoupage Styrofoam balls to create tree ornaments, you can decoupage old plates to make serving platters, you can decoupage wine bottles to create “elegant” vases. Unfortunately, as lovely as really good decoupage can be, most of the world’s population is capable only of mediocre, at best, decoupage. And mediocre decoupage is…well, not so lovely. Not to mention that it is very, VERY messy. I think I’ll leave decoupaging back in the 70s, where it belongs.

But there is one cute, creative, and festive Christmas craft that I can manage: a snowman kit. Three marshmallows, a handful of chocolate chips, a few pretzel sticks, a candy corn left over from Halloween, and a spoonful of white frosting.

 You don’t even have to put it together – you just dump all the pieces into a Ziploc baggie, give it to someone as a gift, and let them do the work. That’s about what I can handle for crafts in December.