Travel Christmas Ornaments
 

My wife and I began a tradition of getting a Christmas ornament at the destinations we traveled to a few years ago.

As we decorate the tree this year, there are missing links either from before the time we started doing this or from places where we couldn't find an "untacky" ornament.

As a gift to my wife, I would like to try and get ornaments to fill in the gaps. I doubt if I'll be able to pull it together in time this year, but def. for next year.

I have Googled myself to death and searched Ebay up and down, but I can't find any "destination/tourist" ornaments. There's a Christmas shop in almost every tourist place and almost every gift shop has a few ornaments. Where do THEY get them? If anyone has a website they know that carries these "in bulk", please tell me. ALso below is a list of the missing places, if you know of any merchant I can conatact to get these individually, please share. Thanks...
--Savannah / Tybee Island, GA
--St. Louis, MO
--Hannibal, MO / Route 66
--Chicago, IL
--Hot Springs, AR
--Natchez, MS / Natchez Trace
--New Orleans, LA
--Memphis, TN
--Cincinnati, OH
--Washington, DC
--Atlanta, GA
--Vero Beach, FL
--Miami, FL
--Destin, FL
--Boston, MA
Also any National Parks in these areas would be welcomed ornaments as well

You might want to look into keychains from those places. Though that may lean towards the tacky.

Good luck with your hunt. I know Chritmas ornaments do exist, esp. for places like Washington DC and Boston, but I wouldn't know where to start searching.

try www.landmark-creations.com.

Try www.the-christmas-shop.com for Savannah.

I think if you Google a towns name and "gift stores" you may get more options. A lot of specialty gift stores carry local ornaments, or you can call them and ask who does.

The White House Historical Association commissions an ornament every year. Their site:

http://www.whitehousehistory.org/

Since these things are collectible, I'll bet they're on ebay too.

For Chicago, Marshall Fields carries Chicago ornaments. Try Fields. com--you may have to call the store directly for that-if so, call the State Street store and ask for Trim a Home department.

P.S. I got a gorgeous oranament for D.C. at the National Cathedral gift shop. You may want to check to see if they have a website. We do the same thing and I love putting up the tree every year to see all the memories!

hhmm, for Atlanta, the first thing that popped into my mind was Gone with the Wind as Margaret Mitchell's house is there and for Memphis, perhaps an Elvis piece...but all searches are leading to Ebay....

Here's another site for Chicago ornaments from the Chicago Historic Society:
http://www.chicagotogo.org/chsms/holor1.html

Dear Big Red,
What a thoughtful & romantic gift you are planning!
For Boston, you might want to find something relating to the Swan Boats, Make Way For Ducklings, or ice skating on Frog Pond. The Christmas Dove shop is very popular in New England, and there is one at Fanueil Hall. You may want to try contacting them directly to inquire:
http://www.christmasdove.com/storeloc.htm
(617) 523-2173
Good Luck!

How about Mark Twain for Hannibal, MO?
Go to:
http://www.weedhouse.com/
Click on the Store, and go to Mark Twain's folks. They stock Gladys Boalt ornaments, and though expensive, they are hand made and fabulous.

FYI...
I couldn't get this pulled together in time this year...but plan on working on it throughout the year in preparation for Christmas 2005. Any other suggestions/comments are welcomed. Thanks for your help

Does Stuckey's have a website? We just got back from a quick trip to Missouri and saw Christmas ornaments in most of the places like that we stopped at.

Lee Ann

I wonder if you've tried Googling on likely names of year-round Christmas stores. One of them is the "Christmas Attic" in Alexandria, a northern Virginia suburb of DC. They have the official White House ornament mentioned above. Their website: http://christmasattic.com/alexhome.htm

Big Red, I have a collection just like this, and above our foyer is a large window which the view from outside is the top of a hallway leading from the staircase. At any rate, the part of the tree that faces the window, I decorated with "regular" ornaments, but the side that we see and pass by in the hall daily have all of our "traveling" ornaments--an "Around the World" tree side.

At any rate, I don't always find my ornaments in Christmas shops, per se. Sometimes they are found inside the actual venues, for example, the gift shop inside the Alamo, or right outside of Westminster Abbey are places I've found ornaments. Perhaps if you googled or searched on Ebay for a particular venue that you want (or could get) the ornament from, that might help? For Chicago, maybe Navy Pier?? I don't have a good ornament from Chicago either, I have one of those tacky brass ones that was a last resort. It's just a thought. Think of the actual venues you visited in the cities, maybe a call or email to the venue would get you somewhere. Sometimes the most beautiful ornaments aren't necessarily from Christmas shops, but regular trinket stores--I've found beautiful ornaments inside these stores painted or handcrafted by local artisans in Bermuda, the Caymans, Lincoln City, OR, among others, as I'm sure you have, too.

Just so you know, we also have missing ornaments, too, when there just weren't any to be had or the selection was horrible.

Good luck!

Well, I got curious and on Ebay typed in, Miami Christmas ornament, Chicago christmas ornament.

Mostly I got sports type ornaments from the search (i.e., Miami Dolphins), but there are two Chicago--one is brass

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...89939&rd=1

As I mentioned above, that was all I could find in Chicago, too?? Strange.

For Atlanta, you might try the Atlanta History Center's main gift shop or at the gift shop at the Swan Coach House restaurant which is part of the museum complex. I happened to be at the Swan Coach House for a bridal shower and their gift shop was loaded w/Christmas decorations. I didn't look too carefully but I'm sure I saw some ornaments and maybe some were Atlanta themed.



http://www.atlhist.org/

I know these are not on your list, but Restoration Hardware has "world" location ornaments. I bought my son one of the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben to commemorate his recent trip to Europe.

They also have globe ornaments and other city landmarks such as the Brooklyn Bridge, etc. Here's the link:

http://www.restorationhardware.com/p...p;viewAll=true

for vero beach, you might try the disney hotel there - I got a christmas ornament from them. In DC, I got several ornaments - two from the white house, one from the capital and one from the supreme court.

Have you tried any museum gift shops in the places you list? We have good luck in those - the ornaments are usually a little higher in quality.

Since you mentioned New Orleans, I wanted to tell you about my favorite travel ornament. It's from NO and it's an oyster shell with a Santa face beautifully hand-painted on the inside and a "pearl" hanging off the end of his "hat".

Sounds like a fun search. Good Luck!