CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENTS: TRAVEL

I've gotten in the habit of picking up new Christmas tree ornaments when we travel. I think it all started with this ornament, sent to us from Hawaii by my mother-in-law a few months after we visited my in-laws there when they were on a two-year assignment for my father-in-law's work:

After we got this ornament, I just couldn't stop myself.  On the domestic front, we have these:

Purchased on a Church History tour in 2003, Palmyra, NY

Valley Forge

Louisiana's Bayou country, 2005

 Andrew even got in on the act WITHOUT my urging.  On his 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C., he came home with this gift for me--a tree ornament:

 

It's been especially fun to purchase international ornaments.  We got most of the ones I include below in the country itself, but a few (the mosque and the Chinese dancers) were purchased at World Market here in Redlands. 

King Henry VIII came from the very first international trip Bob and I took together: 

England, 1999

 We returned to England a few years later:

On that same trip we spent a few wonderful days on the Isle of Man, site of much Cannon family history:

Over Christmas and New Year's 2000-2001 we all traveled to France to pick up Rachael from her study abroad semester in Paris:

On that trip we also met up with my mother in Germany.  One of our favorite stops was the Weihnachtsmarkt in Salzburg, where I bought two long strands of these straw ornaments.  When I brought them home, I cut them apart into forty individual ornaments, and they are now one of the main design items on our tree:

At that same market we purchased these two woodland fairies:

In 2002 we took a winter trip to Italy.  Unfortunately, on the day we were in Pisa, the Tower was closed and we did not get to go inside:

 

In 2007 we traveled to Japan to see our cute new granddaughter Savannah:

 

While there, we took a little side trip to China:

In 2009 we went to Peru with the other partners in Bob's law firm and their wives:

  This past year we went on a cruise that included, among other countries, Turkey:


. . . and Ukraine (where I lost control as far as ornaments go, but they were all so cute):

. . . and Greece

 

I realize that I don't have any ornaments  from our trip to Spain with Andrew in 2006.  We'll have to go back so I can get one.   I'm also hoping for lots more ornaments from other countries in the years to come! Maybe an Egyptian camel, a Polish grandma, an Indian elephant, a Dutch tulip, an African warrior, an Australian kangaroo . . .