By my friend, Bobby Ker -
I think that having their own Christmas collectibles is going to be good for my kids. When they leave home, they will be taking part of their identity within our family with them. I will be a little sad to see my son's tin stars or my daughter's Jim Shore collectibles figurines "Snowman" go. It will be nice to be able to visit my kids and their Christmas collectibles in their new homes and with their new families.
One of the things that I decided when I started having kids was that they would each have their very own Christmas collectibles. My sisters and I still fighting about who is going to get which pieces of our childhood Christmas collectibles that were treasured equally by all of us. It has been impossible to decide and our mother has had to remain in possession of everything.
When my first child was born, I bought for her a small Snowbabies figurine. This was her first Christmas collectible to come. I have gotten her a new Snowbaby every couple of years. She has a favorite figurine; it is named "Love Will Make It Grow". I bought it for her the year she was in kindergarten.
My son has a completely different collection of Christmas collectibles. When he came along, I decided that I wanted to have two Christmas trees, one for the whole family in the den, and one for the kids in their bedroom. I started buying my son reproductions of Klaus Reinhardt tin ornaments. He has a collection that includes over fifty tin stars collectible ornaments.
My second daughter was also included in my Christmas collectibles shopping after she came along. I bought just one Jim Shore figure for her first Christmas, and then I did not buy her another piece until she was about eight. Since then, we have added four more. Her collection is not huge, but it has some really nice pieces.
My last daughter has been adding Precious Moments collectibles to her collection like crazy ever since she got her first job. She just loved the few that she had gotten from me over the years so much that she decided she was going to continue for the Precious Moments Christmas collectibles vigorously.
