Collecting Christmas ornaments is a hobby that many people enjoy doing. Some people get a new ornament each Christmas to add to their holiday tree each year and others do their Christmas ornament collecting twelve months out the year. Just like any collection or hobby, Christmas ornament collecting can be as small and simple or as large and elaborate as you like. One such year-round Christmas ornament collector is a man named David who has been traveling the world collecting Christmas ornaments for nearly twenty years. His collection is vast and he has Christmas ornaments from just about every country around the world.

David started his collection of Christmas ornaments from around the world when he was in the military stationed in Germany. Even though he was a young man, he appreciated the beauty and craftsmanship that he saw in the German ornament shops that were located all throughout Germany. David bought several different kinds of German ornaments during his time in Germany, but he did not have a lot of money at the time, so he was not able to get some of his favorite German ornaments at the time. When his tour of duty was over, David packed his small collection of German ornaments and went back home to the United States.

As David grew older, finished college, married, and had children; his collection of Christmas ornaments grew and sort of took on a life of its own. While he was still a young, struggling family man he started adding new Christmas ornaments to his collection by visiting some of the specialty shops he came across and eventually in the many online Christmas ornament stores that started popping up on the internet. David began buying new Christmas ornaments for special occasions, like birthdays for his children and anniversaries for his wife. Over time his Christmas ornament collection grew so much that he had boxes and boxes filled with all sorts of glass, wooden, and metal ornaments stored in the attic of his home. Rather than just being a hobby that he enjoyed alone, his wife and children also got into the act and started collecting their own Christmas ornaments over the years.

As David became more successful, he and his wife were able to travel around the world looking for more elaborate and expensive Christmas ornaments to add to the family collection. In South America they were able to pick up some clay and ceramic Christmas ornaments that were made by the indigenous Indians of the region. In Japan they bought Christmas ornaments that were shaped like traditional Japanese lanterns. In the Ukraine they collected some unique Christmas spider web ornaments. And in Russian they bought Christmas nesting doll ornaments. Throughout his travels, David was able to add many interesting and unique Christmas ornaments to his collection. However, there was one place that David had been wanting to travel to that had eluded him over the years. He had dreamed of one day returning to Germany to buy many of the gorgeous German Christmas ornaments he had wanted to buy as a young man, but was unable to afford.

So, the day finally came that David was able to return to Germany and he took his wife to see all the beautiful Christmas ornament and decoration shops that he had known as a young man. By this time there were so many shops located all across Germany that he was almost overwhelmed with all the choices he now had. In addition to the hand carved wooden ornaments and hand blown glass ornaments that he had fallen in love with in his youth, many of the shops also sold beautifully decorated and handmade Christmas nutcrackers, pyramids, smoking men, figurines, and cuckoo clocks.

While there was not a specific German ornament that David had wanted to get on his return trip to Germany, he did want to bring home with him some of the more elaborately and intricately designed German ornaments that he could now afford to add to his collection that he had started right there in Germany nearly two decades earlier. By the end of their trip, David managed to find dozens of beautiful glass ornaments and several hand carved wooden ornaments that would go perfectly with the less expensive ones he had bought that started off his entire collection. It was the perfect trip for David, seeing all of his old stomping grounds from when he was in the military, and he left with the perfect German ornaments to add to his beloved Christmas ornament collection.

Today, David and his wife have several glass cabinets set up where David can display all of his favorite Christmas ornaments that he has been collecting over the years and from around the world. Everyone that comes over who does not know David very well always thinks the Christmas ornament collection belongs to his wife and she always has a good laugh as she explains that the Christmas ornament collection truly does belong to her husband. David always enjoys showing off his Christmas ornament collection and telling the many stories that go along with each and every one. From the travels they have taken to the special meanings some of them have, such as the ones purchased on the days his children were born or the ones he first bought in Germany as a young soldier in Germany. For David, collecting Christmas ornaments is more than just a hobby; it is a way of life that has brought him many years of joy, travel, excitement, and fun.