I started writing this in November and yes, my travel Christmas tree has been up for awhile. No, I don’t feel bad about it. In what feels like the ultimate homage to 2020, the trees in our living room are a tribute to our previous holiday travels. In some ways, it feels especially bittersweet to know that we will be home for all the holidays. In other ways, it’s been the most pleasant memory to put to these trees up and sit and relive our adventures together.
While the jury is still out on how I will feel about the holidays overall, there is a sort of coziness that comes from remembering these great adventures that we’ve had over the last few years. In that way, having a travel themed Christmas tree (or two) is pushing me to focus on the positive of this strange time.
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My Christmas Tree Tradition
My birthday is December 6, which coincidentally is the day of St. Nicholas. I was on a Christmas tour of Budapest for my birthday when I learned more about this tradition! When I was a child, we would put up the Christmas tree on my birthday. This tradition continued until I was in college. Once I graduated and lived on my own, I realized that I could put the tree up whenever I wanted to – and put the tree up I did!
This year, we have two travel Christmas trees in the living room, an ivory-gold-rose gold tree in our bedroom, and a hodge podge tree of other ornaments in the dining room. (I put the last one up today.) While 2020 means my trees were up even earlier than usual, I did wait to put my stockings up until today and I’ve been slowly decorating the rest of the house.
I’m publishing this post on my birthday in honor of our Christmas tree tradition. (Happy birthday to me!)
Where to Find Travel Christmas Ornaments
While finding high quality Christmas ornaments can be easier when you travel during the holidays (especially on those European Christmas market trips), it can be difficult to find them during off-season travels, especially when traveling internationally. I’ve always been a fan of glass ornaments, but in recent years, I’ve fallen in love with delicate mouth-blown ornaments, as well as hand-painted Christmas ornaments.
Austrian Christmas Markets
So far, the Salzburg Christmas Markets and the Vienna Christmas markets have been my favorite places to shop for ornaments. I have so much regret for not purchasing more Christmas ornaments on both of our trips there. The Vienna Christmas markets have the most diversity in ornaments, but I’ve purchased more in Salzburg.
Austrian Christmas Ornaments Online
Since we can’t travel, I’ve ordered from the Christmas and Easter Store in Salzburg this year. These vintage style glass ornaments are some of my favorites because they remind me of my childhood. This hand-painted bell is even more gorgeous in person. Christmas in Salzburg, a store I visited as early as 2004, is starting to put their inventory online, so definitely check them out! The Vienna Christmas Salon has some beautiful hand-painted Vienna ornaments, too.
Tuscany Christmas Markets
The Christmas markets of Tuscany are such underrated gems. I bought two Christmas ornaments at the Arezzo Christmas market last year and and one at the Montepulciano Christmas Market. All of them are handpainted and absolutely beautiful. The Arezzo market has more Christmas ornaments than any of the other Italian Christmas markets I’ve visited.
Kathe Wohlfahrt
Kathe Wohlfahrt can be a controversial pick but it makes my list because we’ve found some unique travel ornaments there, particularly when traveling out of season. When we went to Alsace, we stumbled upon Feerie de Noel and picked up some specific ornaments to remind us of that trip. (We found some beautiful ornaments at the Strasbourg Christmas markets, but they weren’t Alsace-specific.) When were were in Barcelona, we found Barcelona specific ornaments for our tree. The original store (and Christmas museum) are in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, but I’ll always stop in wherever I see one just to see what local ornaments they might have! They usually have a pop-up shop at the Texas Christkindl Market, but the selection isn’t nearly as robust as on their German website. (The same is true about the US version of their website.)
I’ve ordered from the German site and I’ve been very pleased with my experiences.
Shopping for Travel Christmas Ornaments Online
V-T Ornaments
One of my favorite finds has been Vintage Treasures Ornaments. With both an eBay store and an Amazon store, you can browse any number of ornaments to commemorate your trips. The photos don’t do these ornaments justice. I was blown away by how beautiful some of these ornaments are. We purchased similar ornaments at the Piazza Navona Christmas market in Rome last year and they weren’t as nice as these. I love these because they are perfect replicas of the major monuments from around the world.
Tom bought me a Doges Palace ornament for my birthday this year since Venice is his favorite destination! The photos don’t even begin to do these ornaments justice! Just check out the Moulin Rouge below!
Landmark Creations
Landmark Creations also offers a number of lovely hand-blown and hand-painted Christmas ornaments. They do custom collections, which I’ve seen through the Michael Storrings collection for Bloomingdale’s. The Michael Storrings collection ins beautiful! I’m sorry that I missed one of his ornaments that depicted The Plaza and Central Market. It was iconic New York. I’m thinking about using my next Bloomingdales Loyalist reward on the Broadway ornament because it reminds me of our 1st anniversary trip. One of my favorite Landmark ornaments I’ve purchased is the rose window of Notre Dame, an ornament that I haven’t seen replicated anywhere. It was the perfect souvenir for our honeymoon in Paris.
Best Pysanky
Best Pysanky is based in Chicago and sells hand-painted ornaments from Ukraine. (They also sell painted Easter eggs, which is what pysanky means!) In addition to their online store, they also have an Amazon store. These hand-painted ornaments are so beautiful, too. In addition to the scene painted on the front, they also have the country’s national flag painted on the back, which I think is really cool! (Learn your flags!) My favorite find from them is the Cancun ornament. It even shows the same stretch of beach where we stayed when we went to Cancun in 2018! All of their Paris ornaments are beautiful, but this Eiffel Tower ornament with fireworks is another one of my favorites and a great souvenir from our trip during Bastille Day in Paris.
Etsy Christmas Ornaments
One of the things that I browsing on Etsy is the handmade ornaments. Whether you’re looking for hand-painted ornaments, blown glass ornaments, or wooden ornaments, there are some truly talented sellers on Etsy. Below a few of my favorite Etsy sellers for Christmas ornaments, particularly if you’re looking for a hard-to-find destination.
- Ferrari Soni Art – Hand-painted in Italy, these ornaments are absolutely gorgeous. I’ve never been able to find a Cinque Terre Christmas ornament, but I have one now. They also take custom commissions and offer 15% off sales from time to time.
- Your Murano – If you’re looking for unique Murano glass ornaments, this shop offers some of the more traditional designs, as well as some more unique glass options. What I love about these ornaments are the beautiful colors and the sturdy yet delicate glass designs. These glass Christmas ornaments are expensive, but they are worth every single penny! They are the perfect souvenir from Venice.
- Nordic Art by Ani – I love Ani’s hand-painted ornaments. She offers glass ornaments, as well as wooden medallion Christmas ornaments.
Department Store Christmas Ornaments
I always check Neiman Marcus, Horchow, and Bergdorf Goodman for ornaments. This year I found a soup dumpling ornament that was the perfect souvenir for my mom and I’s trip to China in 2016. They tend to have some really beautiful European Christmas ornaments. What I really love about them is that they put a small charm with the year on each ornament.
They have great pre-Christmas and after Christmas sales, too. Last year, in addition to the tree skirts I bought at Frontgate, I bought two of my tree skirts from Horchow and one from Neiman Marcus. They are so gorgeous and the quality is unbelievable.
Click to save $50 off your Frontgate order of $200 or more!
Sur la Table has great Christmas ornaments for travelers and for foodies. I’ve seen delicate croissants, beautiful macarons, and other things that might inspire memories about your culinary travels.
Tuesday Morning can be a great place to look for ornaments, too. Sometimes they get some really lovely, authentic imports. You’ll want to check them closely, but I’m a firm believer in the idea if it inspires you, it’s meaningful to you. Obviously, since we’re in the middle of a pandemic, you probably won’t want to get out and poke around, but I think they are always worth checking out at the start of the Christmas season. (I’ve found German incense that reminds me of my childhood there. It’s far more expensive on Amazon.)
Frontgate tends to carry some beautiful stuff, too. Our blue velvet tree skirts are from Frontgate! (I’m obsessed with them. The quality is unreal.)
About Our Christmas Trees
One of our quarantine purchases this year was two new pre-lit Christmas trees from Decorators Warehouse in Arlington. Tom had done a lot of research and decided on two pre-lit Greenland Fir NuemanTrees because they look the most real. We love the Nueman trees because you can create smaller trees if you aren’t wanting to put up a full 9-foot tree every year. You can put up 5-foot or 7-foot versions instead. We loved the versatility and life-like look of these trees.
We chose Decorator’s Warehouse because of their extensive knowledge and customer service. They truly empower their staff members to be experts in their area. Our saleswoman had no problem fielding all of Tom’s questions and explaining the differences between all their trees, as well as the difference between the ones found at big box stores.
When we had an issue with the pre-lit lights out on an older Regency tree (equally beautiful, same benefits), we were able to take that section into the store for repair. They plugged it in, found the issue, replaced the light, and we were done within in less than 5 minutes. No charge. That’s service that will extend the life of your holiday decorations and its service you won’t get from an online retailer.
Slowing Down for the Holidays
Ultimately, 2020 has forced us to slow down. As I unpacked every Christmas ornament (including those that I ordered this year), I remembered every single details of the moments when we purchased these ornaments and the places we’ve been. From the wonder I felt when I stared at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona to the snowy twilight of that first winter we were in Prague, to Tom’s awe of the Louvre and the Colosseum, to the sadness we felt watching Notre Dame burn from a hotel room in Montepulciano, to toasting 2019 on New Year’s Day at Hofbrauhaus in Munich.
Every single one of these ornaments represents a beautiful moment where we ventured out into the world and put our vulnerabilities aside to learn more about the world around us. I knew when we started collecting these ornaments from our travels that they would come a day when we would want them to remember the good times.
Turns out, 2020 is a great time to do exactly that.
Definitely a cozy time of year, but I’m not sure how I feel about it yet either as we are deep into 2020. Love your travel tree! We’ve been trying to pick up destination ornaments throughout our travels, but we definitely don’t have enough for a whole tree. I want to say yet, because I can’t wait to travel again <3
Green Fashionista
You’ve got exquisite Christmas ornaments from your travels:) I didn’t know about that German store, I’ll check it out. I have only a few Christmas ornaments that I’ve bought on my travels but I cherish them:)
Oh wow, what a gorgeous tree and I love the travel theme!!
This is sooooo cute! I have one mini tree with all the ornaments friends and family have given to us over the years, this way they’re a bit closer to us.