Some years are worth marking on the tree: the year you moved to Alabama, the first Christmas in a house of your own, or the first December away from the town you grew up in. An ornament is a small way to do it, and it comes back out every year after.
Here's how to pick an Alabama Christmas ornament from our Alabama gifts collection for each of those years.
Three materials
We make Alabama ornaments in slate, wood and leatherette. The designs overlap, so the choice comes down to look, weight and where it's going.
Slate
Dark natural stone with the design engraved in light, in a 3 or 4 inch round, with a pre-drilled hole and a hanging string. The 3 inch sits into a full tree. The 4 inch reads from across the room and can hang on a door or a mirror.
Wood
Light natural wood, 3.5 inches across and about a tenth of an inch thick, with the design engraved dark into the grain. A twine hanger comes already tied on.
Leatherette
A thin 3 3/4 inch disc in black, blue or brown, with a hanging cord. It's shatterproof, so it's the one to hang low if kids or pets are around, and the easiest to mail.
Marking a move
For the year someone moved to Alabama, the Heart of Dixie slate ornament puts the whole state on the tree. It pairs the state outline with the capitol building, a cotton boll and a yellowhammer, the state bird, plus "The Heart of Dixie" and EST. 1819. It also comes in wood and leatherette.
Marking a home
For a first house or apartment, go with Home Sweet Home. The state shape stands in for the O in HOME. It comes on the Alabama slate Christmas ornament, the Alabama wood Christmas ornament and the Alabama leatherette Christmas ornament.
Those three ornaments come in all 16 of our Alabama state designs. A few more that suit a new home:
- HOME Outline, HOME with the state outline as the O
- Home Script & Heart, the state outline with home in script and a heart
- Est. 1819, the year Alabama became a state
Marking a hometown
For someone who grew up in Alabama and now lives somewhere else, the Merry Christmas From Alabama leatherette ornament says it outright. The words arch over the state shape inside a laurel wreath. It also comes in slate and wood, and the leatherette is the easiest to tuck into a card.
For a simpler hometown ornament, AL Initials or Alabama Script on the state ornaments above work well too.
Start a tradition
A big year is a good time to start adding one ornament every December. Home Sweet Home for the first house, the Heart of Dixie design the next year, and the tree slowly tells the story.
Order timing
Ornaments are made to order. Each one is engraved after you buy it and ships within 1 to 3 business days in a protective sleeve. Add carrier transit time, and order early in the season if it needs to arrive by a certain date.
Find every Alabama ornament, along with the coasters, board and wall art, on the Alabama collection page.
