For nearly twenty years now, my most major tradition was...
Every year I go to Wal-Mart and get us an ornament and have the clerk in the jewelry department engrave the year on the front or the back depending on the style.
Last year I didn't do my shopping till late in the season and there wasn't anymore (so I thought). I was disappointed, but soon forgot about it.
Today I went to get us one for this year and last year.
I looked and looked and found none.
I asked the clerk at the jewelry booth and she looked at me like I was crazy.
I'm trying to explain to the girl..you know the ones that y'all engrave.
She pointed to a wall of display and said that was all the Christmas stuff they had or go to the Christmas decorations department.
I went to the wall she indicated, nope not there.
I go to the far end of the store and search each isle. Nothing!
I'm getting really frustrated!
I was even letting some curse words escape under my breathe.
I stopped a worker, someone who looked like they had been there a while.
Well...Her reply was...We stopped carrying those two years ago!
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OH NO! What am I going to do now?
I come home and hit up the Internet. I tried every word combination I could think of and was getting nowhere. I did find that just a few days ago, someone else just found out the same thing about those ornaments and was asking for help. The help gave a place to get them but I would have to travel four hours round trip for them. That's not going to happen!
Finally, after many hours for searching, I found the right words.
At last, I found a small amount of them! Only downside to this is that they cost twice as much as I would've paid for them. I got the two I needed, anyways.
Now I am going to have to come up with another way to mark the years.
Any suggestions?
12 comments:
Such a shame that they don't have them anymore...Sorry, I don't have any ace suggestions :(
Three suggestions:
1) Buy an ornament you love, buy a very fine tipped silver paint pen, add the year yourself or someone who has fabulous handwriting.
2) Any chance there's another engraver nearby? A mall with one of those "Things Remembered" kiosks? See if they'll engrave it for you? Buy an ornament somewhere else and take it to them?
3) Buy a Dremel with a very fine tip, and your or someone else with a steady hand can engrave it.
That's all I have for only being up 10 minutes and just mopping the floor.
-Joshua
I know Hallmark makes ornaments with the date on them, but they may not be the fancy type you want.
My mom gets us all an ornament every year with the year on it. Sometimes they are the fancy silver ones from the engraving kiosk in the mall and sometimes they are ones we find at the craft store or dept store and she uses a paintmarker to add name and date.
My kids and I hand make ornaments every year to go in the gift baskets we give to grandmas & such. We find a new kind of ornament to make every year. Some years they are easy, some years elaborate. I put the year on them somewhere with a paintmarker. 13 years running and no repeats yet. It's a fun tradition to have.
♥Spot
Eternally Distracted...That's okay, I WILL find something. I don't quit easily if it is bugging me and this is.
Joshua...I'm liking the paintpen idea. Hubby has a dremel, but then again you've never seen his writing. Yikes!
Maureen...that is way out of my price range, but they do have lovely ornaments.
Spot...Great idea, the craft stores. Hobby Lobby is the place to go. Thanks!
Target has the ornaments, at least they did last week. I doubt they would have them online, but I would check. Have you looked at Amazon And I would definately suggest using a dremel. They're super easy to use, and I love mine!
Last year Damian's grandparents sent him a $25 gift card for Land's End. Damian... Whose days are spent killing things in video games and blasting teenaged angst songs through the house. Damian, who only wears athletic pants and t-shirts... a gift card for Land's End. Well, I went online and found the only thing that was under $25 that Damian would have any use for whatsoever... A snowman ornament with his name and the year engraved on it. It's a nice ornament... it was the most expensive ornament I've ever purchased. But just so you know... They can be found at Lands End, if you want to mortgage your house to get one.
I'm with Maureen. When the boys were younger, I always bought the Hallmark ornaments with the date on them. I'm imagining all the card chains probably have them. Surely there must be some company online that does them for a decent price?
Tinkerschnizel...Thanks for the suggestion, I will look that up.
Dwight...AT LAST!! He comes out of the shadows and speaks! I'll email ya!
Kathryn...I'll have to try the card stores, thanks.
What I do to mark all the special occasions for my 3 1/2 year old is buy a charm for her vintage sterling charm bracelet. I have one my mom started when I was 13. There are a ton of sterling vintage charms available on eBay whenever it's time to add a new one to her bracelet. This gives me a lovely piece of jewelry we can look at charm by charm when she is older and recount what special event is represented by each one. Don't have any ideas for boys though.
So this totally reminds me of buying First Christmas ornaments and writing my kids' names on the back. I got so intimidated by the idea of it being 'permanent' that I screwed up their names...both times...3 years apart. I had to strike through and write it again. I'm thinking 20 years from now as they are possibly decorating their own trees they'll look back with fond memories at what a moron their mother was. =)
Mindy
Menopausal...I always wanted a charm braclet. Great idea for marking special occassions.
Mindy...LOL! It seem like a lot of pressure when you know it is going to be there for ever.
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