The Time for Change: The Christmas Ornament Search of 2019

Every year I pick out one personalized Christmas ornament for us. It used to be ONE ornament because we had a tiny tree. We've now upgraded to a full-sized tree, but the tradition lives on. Here are suggestions from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. More importantly, here are my top contenders for the year.

1. Pet Portrait Ornament - TheArtOfRachel - $30 plus mystery shipping (shipping is free over $35, so if you wanted to order two you'd get shipping free)

Did you know that we adopted a dog in 2019? Ha ha. Of course you knew that. How about a personalized pet portrait ornament? Send in photos of your pet and this lady will handpaint an ornament with your cat/dog/rabbit/hamster on it. Act quickly, though, because you only have until December 3 to get in your holiday order.

2. Custom Portrait Ornament - TinyBuffaloDesignsCo - $100 plus free shipping in the US

Maybe you want to include your cat and your dog, along with all your other family members. Maybe it's time to consider upping your budget for this ornament. I would never spend $100 on an ornament, but I could see many occasions in which this would be a perfect gift.

Upon further research, there are much less expensive options out there for this type of thing. The folks at ClaireAdeline could do two people and two pets for only $32 and DeelitefulDesigns for only $23. The cheaper ones are a lot more cartoonish and don't have as much detail, but it's an ornament, not an oil portrait!

3. Calendar Ornament - MintAndJulep - $18.95 plus mystery shipping (shipping is free over $35, so if you wanted to order two you'd get shipping free)

There are a variety of these really cool ornaments with calendar pages on them. You can do marriage, engagement, or birth date. Maybe the day you adopted your brand new fuzzball who is going to seriously cause you to go into debt because of her insane vet bills?

4. State Geode Crackle Ornament - Dock6PotteryAndTile - $16 plus free shipping in the United States

I have done A LOT of Wisconsin-themed ornaments in order to convince myself that it's okay that I live here in the land of drunk driving and annoying Packer fans, but my heart is truly in Michigan. I think these awesome geode ornaments are truly amazing and fun. I guess I'd get one for Dr. BB of Iowa while I was at it. (But, seriously, you KNEW that was Michigan, right? It's TWO peninsulas! And you had NO IDEA that was Iowa because it could have been any of those rectangle states, right?)

5. Harry Potter Ornaments - NidoMoments - $28.19

I have never actually considered the joy of literature-themed ornaments. If I had my own tree and didn't need to account for the tastes of others, I could see myself doing an entire book-related tree. There are so many ways to go! There's this set of HP ornaments.

There's this A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ornament (from noveladornment - $5 - 12 depending on size).

How about this Just One More Chapter ornament from iGotCrafts ($12)?

This celebration of libraries past from DeliciousAccessories ($17.95)?

Okay, I could keep on going forever with the book related ones, but I'll stop.

The truth is that I already ordered three of those pet portrait ornaments - one of Zelda the Cat, one of Hannah the Shepherd Mix, and one of my mom's dog, Red the Pom. I'll update this post with how they turned out. In the meantime, enjoy some photos of some of my favorite animals on the planet.

Update: The ornaments have arrived.