Family Photo Christmas Ornaments

For my family, Christmas time has always been very low-key. We like to take advantage of everyone being at home and spend as much time together as possible. Everything else - from meals to decorations - is kept simple. However, one tradition we don't skimp on is presents. My mom insists we gather around the tree every Christmas morning to open presents together. This means none of us get to sleep in. This also means we need to buy presents for everyone...

Every year, my brother and I go through the same "I have no idea what to get mommy" dance. We usually settle on buying her something that is an upgrade or a replacement for something she already owns. She is so hard to shop for because she rarely uses anything anyone gifts her. For example, one year we bought her a new pressure cooker to replace her old one. She continues to use the old one, and only recently began to ALSO use the new one.

This Christmas, we decided to make her a set of ornaments using pictures of our immediate family and her extended family. My mom is the only one to immigrate to the US from Taiwan, and given how close she is to my grandparents, aunts, and uncle, the distance has always been difficult for her. This year was especially difficult because my grandmother passed away after a three year battle with lung cancer and early stages Alzheimer's. I wanted to use these ornaments to honor the memory of my grandmother and celebrate the family that my mom loves so dearly.

These pictures are of my mom in teaching college and my grandmother on her wedding day.

Fun fact: My grandmother, my mom, and I are all the oldest women AND the shortest women in our respective generations.

Stanley and I made sure our mom opened the first present on Christmas day.

In the case she didn't like the ornaments, we also bought her a nice purse. =)