**THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. STAY TUNED FOR WINNERS!**
Thanks for coming to visit! I have a fun week of giveaways planned for you, compliments of Hallmark. If you have been here before, you know how Hallmark recognized my hubby, BgK, as an award winning dancer. If you’ve not heard that he was part of a national dance contest, check out his moves and the story of how he won some cash and a great trip!
I’ve got a week’s worth of fabulous, brand new for 2008 Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments to giveaway–a different ornament for each day,
so you’ll have to come back often. After each post goes up, the comments will remain open until Friday at 3pm (or whenever my daughter falls asleep that afternoon).
You may enter once for each ornament, and I’ll give you an extra entry if you mention this giveaway on your own blog. Just let me know in the comments that you’ve done so.
Open to US and Canadians.
Up first, to get everyone in the mood and thinking Christmas thoughts: Trimming the Tree
This is the *first* in a new series, which will feature two bears–one big and one little. It is absolutely darling, and I think it’s a great series to start for a special child in your life.
To win, please enter one comment–telling me a favorite tree trimming memory or family tradition around trimming the tree. You don’t need to have a blog to enter–just make sure your comment contains a valid email address.
To start off the tradition telling: We always listen to the John Denver/Muppets Christmas album (which I picked up on CD back in ’94) when trimming the tree. Completely brings me back to my childhood!
Come back tomorrow–there will be a special ornament that will leave us all inspi(RED).
Updated: Here’s a link to Tuesday’s giveaway, and here’s a link to Wednesday’s. Here’s Thursday’s link. And finally, here’s Friday’s link.
My mom made a whole bunch of handmade ornaments and we just remember to hang those every year.
I love Hallmark Ornaments. My husband and I purchase a new ornament each time we go on a trip. It is so much fun decorating the tree.
I decorated a tree for my 15 year old son one year in purple as a Christmas gift. We now add to it every year – he has gone out and bought his own white tree, purple lights and new crystal, gold and purple ornaments. It is beautiful and he now is 20!!!
We enjoy putting up the special ornaments we collect over the years. It is neat to see how our family has grown over the years from “our first christmas together” to two “baby’s first christmas” ornaments. It is such a wonderful time for memories.
Thanks,
Christy
I just love the way that my girls have to “do it themselves” every year. We have fun watching them put all ornaments on one side, while listening to Elvis Christmas songs and drinking hot cocoa.
Thank you for hosting this giveaway.
tiffanyannrosson at yahoo dot com
I used to love the tinsel hanging down and blowing…but I am all grown up and it’s such a bother now
LOL
My memory is how my mom would always do the lights because she had a special way of doing them. It always seemed to take forever because I wasn’t allowed to help with anything until she was finished.
Not an overally special memory or anything, but, it’s a memory.
Thanks for the chance.
fave memory is putting the tree together and how creative I can cat proof it, last year bolt to floor and extended from ceiling with fishing wire. Thanks for the contest
Every year when I was little we would go pick out our favorite Christmas tree from the Optimist Club. My mom would make us hot cocoa when we got home and then my dad would put on his Bing Crosby Christmas record and we would sing and decorate the tree together. I looked forward to it all year and it was almost better than Christmas morning!
When I was a kid my sister and I used to string popcorn to put around the tree, it was a fun time.
That is such a cute ornament! My favorite tree trimming memory was the year that my father decided to make our own tree. We used garland, boards, cardboard, and lots of other stuff. It might not have been all that “pretty” but it certainly contained lots of memories and fun in putting it together. Thanks for the chance to win!
author_erin(at)lycos(dot)com
I have a tree in every room and we each do our own
luckydolls123[at]verizon[dot]net
listening to johnny mathis chirstmas album and stringing popcorn and cranbarries on about 40 feet of thread for the 8 foot tall balsem pine we got for our house was the best time growing up. The fireplace was lit and hot chocolate was on the table while we tried to not eat all the popcorn for stringing the garland of popcorn and cranbarries. SO MUCH FUN. I can’t wait until our daughter is that old to have such fun as we did.
I’ll have you linked on my blog tomorrow afternoon for the giveaways this week. Sweet.
We always start off listening to Gloria Estefen or Frank Sinatra’s Christmas cds, fire going in the fireplace. My two children are in charge putting on the decorations which always turns into a battle and then after we are all done we turn off all of the inside house lights and light the tree. We sit there just gazing at the beauty together.
A favorite tree trimming memory for me is one that happens every year. We go through the ornaments one at a time and talk about why they are special to us.
Thanks so much!
Michele(CA)
luvkittysmeowmail@gmail.com
Tree trimming at our house last year was like Nation Lampoons Christmas Vacation, there was a cat in the tree, a cat under the tree and a cat in the ornament box. 🙂
Theresa N
weceno(at)yahoo(dot)com
aaww very cute i just love christmas time
Our tree tradition is to put it up and decorate the house the weekend after Thanksgiving 🙂
Each child had their own special ornament that they received when they were a baby, and as they got older, they had ones they had made in school or on their own. Those were the first ornaments on the tree. I continue the tradition by giving each grandchild a “new baby” dated ornament the year they are born.
daisyaday [at] gmail [dot] com
Thanks!
We seem to be unable to trim the tree without eggnog for the adults and hot chocolate for the kids. Thanks for the great giveaway!!
Stephanie
dsmoore1 at centurytel dot net
i have two favorites, decorating the tree thanksgiving day and then…eating cinnamon rolls on christmas morning
A favorite memory for me is last year I let my children decorate most of the tree. I let them hang the ornaments instead of doing it myself. They had so much fun and the tree didn’t look bad at all.
I am a professional Christmas decorator. My daughter is finally old enough to really help me, so last year decorating the house is probably one of my favorite memories. She helped a lot and had a lot of ideas.
My parents gave me a new ornament each year. I love looking at each one now and remembering when I got it!
sjbraun at hotmail dot com
First, this is a PRECIOUS ornament & I'd love to win. My Christmas memory: my mom has given me & my brother an ornament every year since we were born. She makes it specific to that year (something going on in our lives, the country, etc.) and she dates them. When I we moved out, we got our collection, minus the Baby's 1st. To this day, she still gives us an ornament every year & I always look forward to adding to my collection.
We have a retro tree trimming every year, complete with Classic Chirstmas music (Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, Judy Garland, etc.) It’s a retro Tree trimming, right down to the tinsel!
As a kid we always listened to traditional Christmas music while trimming the tree. Now it is a tradition I carry on with my own family.
Since we left the west coast we do a Beach themed tree with Santa in swim trunks.
Every year about 2 weeks before Christmas we go to pick out our tree. Daddy takes it home and what doesn’t come off the top when he shoves it through the door will come off on the sides as he huffs and puffs and pushes that tree into our living room. Pine needles everywhere, cats sniffing curiously, he begins his work—a half an hour later the tree is trimmed, gorgeous and ready to decorate. We usually do that the next night, after the kitties have had a day to climb it, scope it out and lie under it. I love ornaments, and collect them yearly, this would be a great addition to my collection!
Just about every year our lights on our Christmas tree didn’t work
Every year I would buy the kids a new ornament for the tree. Now that they’re grown they have thier ornaments with them and…I still buy them new ones and I keep the tradition going by taking the grandchildren ornament shopping each year.
Your giveaways are perfect!! Thank you.
Every year we go as a family and each pick out a special ornament that kind of describes that year. I absolutely LOVE snowmen and this is adorable. I put our names on the ornaments and the year and when my girls have their own home I will give them their special collection of ornaments.
I like to buy a sports themed ornament each year.
we always have hot coco after triming the tree with marshmellos
I love using all the hand-made ornaments from our childhood. We hadn’t used them in years until last year and it brought back such great memories!
Michelle
lilikoi44@gmail.com
So cute,Hallmark hast the best ornaments. I love to have the whole house decorated. I also put baby powder in a bag,put my husbands shoes in to get the powder on the soles. I then walked the shoes to the xmas tree. When the kids woke the first thing they saw was Santa’s magic snow footprints
Count me in
My favorite part of trimming our tree was stringing popcorn. We would eat more than we would string! We would drink cocoa, listen to carols…. It’s getting cold in here!
rlgrady [at] yahoo dot com
Such a cute ornament. Trimming the tree is so haphazard in our house. Although, I do enjoy getting out all of my homework ornaments.
Thanks!
carissaad at aol dot com
going to a christmas tree farm to pick out our tree and drink hot apple cider to warm up is one of my favorite memories!
I have 1 plastic Wise Man from our tree when I was a child. Every year when I stick the Wise Man among the branches I remember the Christmas plays at church and at school. – back in the days when school plays could celebrate Christmas LOL.