Christmas Ornament

So I was reminded of this pitiful blog I have yesterday and decided I should post something. Being that it is 8 days until one of my most favorite holidays, I have chosen to write something Christmas related.
I have actually found myself participating in one of those month long Instagram challenges just because it is Christmas themed... and it's kind of fun.
Day 8 was a picture of ornaments. I selected a few that I have gathered from some of my travels and made a pic stitch:

I think it may have started when I was 14 traveling with my grandparents and my brother by car to see Niagara Falls. At a rest stop on the way I found a brochure for Frankenmuth, MI also nicknamed "Little Bavaria". As if the German theme wasn't enough for me to want to go there, I also noticed it was home to the "World's Largest Christmas Store", or so they claimed. Bronner's Christmas Wonderland. A 7.35 acre building packed full with 800 animated figurines, christmas trees, lights, ornaments, nativity scenes and other collectibles?!? This I had to see! Not to mention the replica of Oberndorf, Austria, Silent Night Memorial Chapel. It sounded like a German/Christmas oasis the likes I wouldn't see until I was older and had money to travel to the Christkindlmarkt. Surprisingly, my blue puppy dog eyes worked on my drive by the Grand Canyon Grandfather and even my Granny seemed to not absolutely hate the idea. My little brother, however, I think was only in it for the food. 

I can picture Frankenmuth, MI's Bavarian village and Bronner's Christmas Wonderland like it was yesterday. The expansive store had Christmas trees hanging from the ceiling only to be met by more on the floor. Everywhere you looked there were twinkling lights and ornaments of all shapes, sizes and colors. I had to chose one to take home to remember this trip... this moment. So the trip was see Niagara and the falls were great and all, but this was the highlight for me. 

Ever since then I would make it a point to find a little Christmas shop or souvenir store where I could buy an ornament to add to my collection while on vacation. The ornaments either say where I was or are an obviously landmark for where I had visited. Sadly, this year I could not find my Tower Bridge ornament as I think it may be packed away in a storage unit. There's always next year...