My grandparents used to have a big standing nutcracker that I loved to play with. I think it was just decoration though. I might have broken it if I'd ever tried to crack nuts with it. You're right though, nutcrackers do have a lot of personality. I bet they'd be fun to paint :D

I have a red glass penguin ornament that is ma favorite. It's very thin and has sparkles all over it. And light reflects off it very nicely!!!

I'm not to sure. :o I think lights.

I have two favorite ornaments. ^^

The first favorite is the one that I made,
which has evergreen trees and snow.

The second favorite is the crystal angel one,
where I had gotten from my last year in
elementary school. xD

I think my favorite ornaments are the little glittery snowflakes I not only put on the tree, but all over the entire house. I hang them in doorways and on the nails on the walls. They look amazing that way. It's a winter wonderland. I also have this glass baubles of bright colors that have snowflakes on them. There are also a few ornaments shaped like reindeer that I really think are gorgeous.

Those are probably my favorites, but the problem is, I have to be careful and take some sacrifices - my dog has little balance on the hardwood floors and has already slid into the tree (it didn't fall though - surprisingly) and my youngest cat rips everything off the bottom of the tree and runs it all over the house. o.o

So I have to put up a lot of safe ornaments I don't like so much. :(

Having seven cats and a dog, I can definitely sympathize with that. The snowflakes sound beautiful though ^_^

All of our ornaments this year were made by my grandma. Our store bought ornaments weren't unpacked because Mom is moving out of the state in a couple weeks and she didn't see the sense in unpacking them all only to have to repack them again a couple weeks later. *shrug*

I'd have to say my favorite is the tree topper of grandma's tree. It's a crocheted angel that she made. it's really pretty.
although, I'd say I rather LOVED the one she gave to her friend for christmas this year. It was a three foot tall crocheted angel and she was BEAUTIFUL.

:o That sounds gorgeous! I've always wished I could crochet. There's so many beautiful things you can make.

It's really simple. I learned to do it in a day. . . I just don't have the patience to finish anything. >.> I have the attention span of a goldfish and doing the same stitches again and again will only entertain my mind for a short time.
It makes me sad really.

I'll have to give it a try sometime. I know my great-grandma used to crochet because we still have the doilies she made. they're all so pretty and delicate. I love them. :D
Did you learn from a book, or did your grandma teach you?

My grandma taught me. <3 I can't learn anything from a book. >.0

lol, you're lucky to have someone to teach you. My grandma taught me how to knit when I was little, but I've forgotten how, and now she has alzheimer's, so she wouldn't be able to teach me again. I think crocheted stuff is prettier anyway. Maybe I'll pick up a book pn it the next time I'm in a book store. ^_^

Grandma refuses to teach me how to knit. xD She hates knitting. She doesn't like the way it "feels" she says. x3 She's so crazy.
Some how I managed to convince her to show me the basics, but that was it. :roll:

I would definitely advise it. Crocheting is awesomely fun and you can make all kinda of cool things.

Lol, as long as you have the basics, you can probably build off of that. My aunt has knitted all kinds of things, but I hardly ever see her, so she can't really teach me. There's a girl in the guild I'm a part of over on gaia (oh no, I said the g word :shock: ) who knitted a dragon scarf. It was awesome!

yeah, I could, but I'm really not that interested in knitting anyhow. *shrug* I'm convinced taht whatever you can knit, you can crochet. but you can't knit everything you can crochet.

Really? Friggin' awesome. I just wish I had the patience and attention span to do something like that.

do they not like gaia here?

I'll chat you laters. I'm falling asleep on my keyboard and it won't be good for my laptop if I drool all over it. xD

• I love teddy ornaments. <3

Lol, ok. Have a good sleep ^_^

I don't have one in particular, I get my kids a new one every year and try to make it have something to do with their interests and activities. My tree will be bare after they grow up and leave home because most of the ornaments are theirs. So, those all have sentimental value to me.

Aww, maybe they'll start getting ornaments for you, so you don't have to have a bare tree. :D

I still have a lot of my own and they might decide to take them, I hope they do though and have fond memories of Christmas when they were young.

I'm sure they will. The ornaments I took with me always bring back the memories of my favorite Chritmases. Many were mine to begin with, but there's some that were just favorites of mine from when I was realy little that my mom wanted me to take. ^_^

I like the blue and shiny one. It has my name on it. I had it ever scince I was 3 year's old. Every year I put it on my tree ^____^

The one's you've loved since you were little always seem to be the best. I love pulling out my ornaments every year and taking a trip down memory lane. ^_^

I'm adore my Hello Kitty ornaments, but I think my favorite one is a little wax gingerbread girl that I got as a kid--my brother got a matching gingerbread boy. Not only do they look like gingerbread people, they smell like gingerbread, even 20 years later.

My favorite ornament was the Rudolph reindeer I made in 2nd grade. Even though it looks so awkward on the tree in it's hand-made glory, I love that we kept it for so long and that it's nose glows in the dark. xD Yeah, glow in the dark stuff~!