The Story of My Family Told With Christmas Ornaments (Gallery)
Thanks to these annual gifts from my mother-in-law, my family has developed a tradition of having new custom Christmas ornaments each year that show the current situation of our family. I always thought the ornaments were nice, but this year as we unpacked our ornaments to decorate the Christmas tree, it hit me how these yearly gifts actually told the story of my family, dating back to 2006, the year I met my wife Jennifer. So here it goes… learn the story of the Davis family via a display of Christmas ornaments!
Our Christmas tree in 2013 Kokomo, IN. It is full of both purchased and personal ornaments.
Jennifer and I met in September 2006, and we celebrated our 1st Christmas together that year. We both lived in Nashville, TN at the time.
We got engaged a week before Christmas (just 3 months after we met) in 2006.
We got married in July 2007, and our story as a family truly began!
Our 1st son was born in September 2008.
2008 brought many highs and lows for our family. Our 1st child was born, and I graduated from Lipscomb with my Masters of Theological Studies. Unfortunately, we also lost Granddaddy, one of Jennifer’s grandfathers. I lost my first grandfather in 2007. Will’s name (William) is a family name taken from the middle name of my grandfather Poppy who died in 2007, and it is also my dad’s and brother’s middle name. Our 2nd son Samuel would eventually be born and named after Granddaddy.
Our family expanded to 3 in 2008, and we were overwhelmed with joy to be parents!
In 2009, we moved from Nashville, TN to Guntersville, AL. I began a 2-year stint as a bi-vocational minister, working at Decatur Christian Church and Domino’s Pizza. Our family did not expand any this year. I also lost my 2nd grandfather Pop in 2009. It was a very emotional funeral, but I was glad he got to see me graduate from college and grad school, as well as meet our 1st child.
Our daughter was born in October 2011, expanding our family to 4.
Julie Beth was very welcomed by loved ones.
Our daughter came into the world while we were still living in Guntersville, AL.
Julie Beth’s 4th personalized Christmas ornament shows how everyone was excited that we now had not only a son, but also a daughter in our family.
Our baby girl got a lot of attention, but we did not forget about Will in 2010!
The Davis family grew from 3 to 4 in 2010.
We still lived in Guntersville in 2010, but we moved to a new rental house (our 4th home in 4 years).
Will turned 3 in 2011.
Julie Beth celebrated her 1st birthday in 2011.
Jennifer’s “1st Baby”, our dog Ellie died in 2011. It was a very traumatizing experience to find that Ellie had been killed by a coyote in the middle of the night.
In 2011, the Davis family moved to our 5th home, the church parsonage in Decatur, AL. My youth ministry job at Decatur Christian Church went from part-time to full-time as we were in the middle of a church merger, a very unique experience.
We did have 1 major surprise in 2011, as we became pregnant with our 3rd child!
Sam was born in May 2012, expanding our family to 5.
Will turned 4 in 2012, and his ornament shows his growing love for Memphis Tigers basketball.
Julie Beth turned 2 in 2012, and she started to love princesses.
Our family grew from 4 to 5 in 2012. Toward the end of the year, I accepted the Children’s Ministry job at Fairfield Christian Church in Kokomo, IN. We spent Christmas packing up our house and preparing for a major New Year’s move for our family from Alabama to Indiana.
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