When Ariel was little, we started a tradition of giving her an ornament every year at Christmas.  In order to make this more meaningful, though, we chose to pair each ornament with a Bible verse, enabling the ornaments to serve as reminders of Scripture.

Of course, as younger siblings came along, they began to receive ornaments, as well!  I’m going to share some details about how we do this and some of the things we’ve matched up, to serve as inspiration for anyone else wanting to start a similar Scripture ornament tradition.

The Ornaments

Some years I purchase ornaments.  Other years, I make them.  (Some of the crafted ornaments are better quality than others, as you can see from the photos!)  I do try to stick to wood, metal, etc. so the ornaments don’t get broken before the children reach adulthood!

Keeping Record

Each year I write a brief description of the ornament (so the children can identify them), along with the accompanying Scripture, in a small notebook.  These are extra “work notebooks” left over from our Day-Timers, but any small notebook with permanent pages will work.  (Don’t use something with perforated pages!)

[UPDATE Nov. 2024]

I’m reworking our recordkeeping method, because if I had this to do over, I probably wouldn’t have done the booklet (although it works, so it’s still an option if that’s what works for you).

The thing is, the booklets are packed with the rest of our ornaments — which means they aren’t usually available for writing in when I’m first preparing the year’s ornaments. I usually end up writing them in on or after Christmas. With one child, this is not a big deal, but it becomes tougher to keep up with between unpacking and repacking the ornaments when you’re doing them in triplicate and more!

What I think is going to be a better approach is writing the information on an index card with a hole punched in the upper left corner. These cards can be prepared ahead of time and attached to or right along with the ornaments. Then they can be attached to a binder ring to keep them all together. This should help streamline the process for me as mom.

The Verses

The images in the collage above represent the ornaments we’ve given each year since Ariel was born, minus a small “brass” trumpet, which has gone missing, but was inadvertently replaced in the collage by a bird ornament the girls got from their choir director.  (I’m not sure how he snuck in!)

1. wooden snowflake “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” -Psalm 51:7
2. silver spiral “And [God] will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver…” – Malachi 3:3
3. train “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” -Proverbs 22:6
4. wooden lion (Not a verse.  This represents her name: “lion of God.”)
5. wooden dove “….He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove…Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” -Matthew 3:16; Galatians 5:16
6. trumpet (not pictured) “And He will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” -Matthew 24:31
7. A (one side — not pictured)/lion “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.” -Proverbs 28:1
8. silver “rejoice” “Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again I will say, rejoice!” -Philippians 4:4
9. silver star “I, Jesus, have sent My Angel to testify these things to you over the churches.  I am the Root and Offspring of David, the bright and Morning Star.” -Revelation 22:16
10. stick figures (represent “sit,” “walk,” and “stand” in Ephesians, and in Psalm 1.)
11. butterfly “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” -2 Corinthians 5:17
12. gold key “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.  Amen.  And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” -Revelation 1:18
13. Scrabble tile name “…Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.” -Isaiah 43:1b
14. heart + band-aid “Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me.  I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.” -Deuteronomy 32:39

Continuing…

15. door “I am the door.  If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” -John 10:9

16. outline of our state “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us…” -Acts 17:26-27

17. stack of mini bricks “See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.” (Jer. 1:10)

18. chess rook (castle) “The name of Yahweh is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are [a]safe.” (Prov. 18:10)

19. honeycomb “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Ps. 119:103)
“The law of Yahweh is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of Yahweh are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” (Ps. 19:7-10)