The first year that Chris and I were dating, I made him an ornament from an old cross stitch kit, just on a whim... And it became one of our favourite holiday traditions. I make one for him every year; they all incorporate our initials, the year, and stars (or a star), and quite often (though not always) relate in some way to the year we've had. I try to make them early enough that he'll have them by the time the tree gets decorated, and this year it came together pretty quickly so I got it done nice and early.
This is the 2022 ornament.
I chose natural wood and neutral colours for it because during this third pandemic year, when he's up to it, we've enjoyed going for short walks in the woods. The camouflage fabric and rope are upcycled from a knapsack he had and really loved that wore out this year after accompanying us on many hikes and forest walks. The little owls are beads that come from a bracelet we found in a geocache-- I chose them for a few reasons: Chris was already fond of owls (we got to pet a couple at a sanctuary in 2017 and he sort of fell in love a bit, lol), he's gotten more interested in ornithology this year and we have started keeping a list of which birds we've seen (in the wild, so petting the owls doesn't count for that list), and there is an owl fact I sent him on Valentine's Day that he's been fond of repeating throughout the year, about how mated pairs of owls lean on each other.
