Space Christmas Ornaments

It's hard to believe, but 2015 marks the 25th year since the launch of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.  It's been sending images back to earth ever since.  Some of these incredible images, like the one above, sent back to earth from 20,000 light years away are just absolutely stunning.

The folks at the space center named it "Celestial Fireworks,"  and it's been designated Hubble's Official 25th Anniversary Image.  It shows a cluster of stars in the constellation Carina.

If yours is one of those families that has a tradition of adding one special new ornament each year, this work of art (shown above) could be the one for this year.  It's something your children and grand children will be happy to display on their trees in the future, proudly explaining to admirers that it's a family heirloom.

Here's a beautiful blown glass ornament of the planet Saturn.  Mouth blown by an old world glass artist, then hand painted and glittered, this one is a real beauty.  

This beauty  is from Old World Christmas, which still uses traditional techniques dating back to the 1800's. .

Regardless of whether they may need to refresh their assortment, or replace broken items from year to year, some families also select a single, special addition to their tree each year.  Often that new item is either dated, or simply something that will be unique within their overall collection.

Those special annual purchases are often selected with the idea in mind that they will be a part of a special family collection for generations to come.

Photo credit: phaewilk from morguefile.com

Another fun tradition is to add one item for each child in the family to your decoration collection every season.   

Then, as each child reaches young adulthood and leaves the nest, they will have the beginnings of their own personal ornament collection to take with them.  Hopefully, they'll continue some version of this same tradition with their own family some day.

These special Christmas ornaments might be chosen to reflect the special interests of each child.  For  instance, one child may find it difficult to think about anything but soccer, another may be fascinated with space or astronomy.  You can find ornaments (and other things)  that reflect just about any interest you can think of at Zazzle..

Here are two examples of cute things to hang on the tree in a home with children (or grand children) who are space crazy.   Each can be personalized - one with the child's picture, and the other with his or her name.