Thankful Thursday + iPPP - Christmas Ornaments

We lived in London a few years ago. It was before kidlets but after university. It was awesome. We made some great friends and saw some amazing things. While living in London we had a few haunts that we loved: Cornish Pasties in Covent Garden, Nutella Pancakes from the little caravan near Westminster bridge, Candied Peanuts near The Tate Modern, the bookstore on Picadilly, Gap on Oxford Street, the internet cafe near Selfridges, the Dell in Hyde Park... Oh, I could write a book of things I loved about London.

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But one store captured my heart more than any other. It was Harrods. Oh sweet Harrods. I loved it from the moment I hopped off the tube and was swamped by stampeding post Christmas shoppers. Within those hallowed walls were things I had never seen before. Under one roof you could buy diamonds, skin treatments, Chinchillas {whatever they are}, Barbie dolls, polo kit, fireplaces, and it is the only store in the UK that has a licence to sell monkeys - handy. This excludes the amazing eateries and other departments with price tags longer than my phone number, mind you.

It is an amazing place to go at Christmas too. It is all jazzed up with lights and trees. Drop your coat at the door and escape the winter chill for a while. The Christmas section is a wonderland of delights, sections dedicated to different colour themes and then sections within those of baubles and tinsels and nativity sets and the like.

Are you getting the idea? Harrods is pretty amazing.


Well, imagine a store that good. Now, imagine the post-Christmas sales. I know, did you nearly pass out? Me too. A-MAZ-ING.

I happened upon Harrods after Christmas and was wandering past the Christmas store when I saw that everything was marked down by over 75%. I delightedly bought up a whole heap of decorations. I bought beautiful angels and items hand made in Norway, little knitted girls in red jumpers, handmade felt items from Russia and little London Bobbies and Metro Police ornaments. I did show some restraint, I knew I would have to a) get them past Mr Cool, and b) get them back to Australia.

I love the idea of decorations having a story, so every year when I take out the decorations, I tell the girls the story behind them. So, along with the stories of the Harrods decorations, I also share the stories behind the Beef Eater and Yeoman Warder I bought when we went to the Tower of London. And the story of the tiny tree we had in our tiny London flat and the 'Punk Angel' that we chose to sit atop the tree. And the stories of the decorations I have bought especially for each child each Christmas. And I tell the nativity story when we set up our nativity ornaments. 

I love pulling out the boxes of decorations every year and remembering when we bought each ornament and why. I am thankful to be reminded of all the goodness in the world and to share a bit of that with our children is such a blessing. 

Everything has a story... I really love that. 

Do your Christmas decorations have stories? Do you share them with your children?


I am linking up with 'a belle, a bean and a chicago dog' for some 'iPPP' and 'kate says stuff' for 'Thankful Thursday'