As I’ve mentioned here before I collect Christmas ornaments as souvenirs. I think they are the perfect souvenir because they don’t take up a ton of room, they’re useful, and when I pull them out every year I get remember all the great trips I’ve taken. In general they’re also pretty easy to find and keychains will work as a stand-in in a pinch. These are the ornaments I added to my collection in 2019.

1. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – I picked this ornament up when I went to Cleveland for a conference this past spring. The conference reception was at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which I of course loved. I actually wound up buying this ornament in the airport because the line in the museum gift shop was out of control. It would have taken me at least an hour. I didn’t want an ornament that bad. Luckily the airport provided and I managed to get one, though not the one I had picked out in the museum gift shop.
2. Hogwarts’ Express – I got this ornament during our trip to Orlando this past February. Obviously it came from inside Harry Potter World in Universal Studios.
3. The Greek Theatre – I had to substitute a key chain for an actual ornament for The Greek. They had a little kiosk that sold The Greek merchandise where I bought this. There was actually a Christmas ornament listed on their price list, but there wasn’t one on the shelf so they keychain sufficed. I tried to pretty it up a little with a gold bow.
4. 2019 Mickey and Minnie – This one as you may have guessed came from the same trip to Orlando where I got the Hogwarts ornament. This one I got in Disney World. Way back when we got married our friends bought us a Just Married ornament from Disney World that broke when our tree fell over a few years ago. Not surprisingly they no longer have that same ornament a decade later, and I didn’t want to replace it with a different wedding ornament. So I bought this one instead. I thought it fit my new souvenir ornament rule in that if possible I will only buy something non-breakable because see above story about the tree falling over and broken ornaments. I was obviously wrong about this ornament being something that wouldn’t break easily because I must have not hung it on a sturdy enough branch for its weight and it fell down the first night and their arms where they’re holding hands broke off. I managed to super glue them back on, but I also managed to superglue myself to a paper towel and also get super glue on my great-great grandmother’s ring. I’m hoping if I take it to a professional jeweler to clean they can get it off. At least if they can’t most of it is on the inside of the ring where you can’t see it.
5. The St. Louis Arch – I bought this one when we went to St. Louis for my cousin’s wedding party in October.
6. Maryland – The Maryland shaped ornament was one of my anniversary gifts for this year. It’s cut out of stainless steel and steel is the 11th anniversary gift.