A Tree and a Tradition

We've decorated our tree today! Most people in Germany (at least all the people I know) decorate their tree later, usually on Christmas Eve or the day before. Ever since I've moved into my own appartment and had my own Christmas tree, I decorated the tree earlier - I just like it better this way, and thank god John doesn't mind either :)
It was nice today, we had Christmas music playing in the background and John managed to put the tree lighting on without cursing - the first time, I think :)
We've got mainly Christmas balls as ornaments, and our main color is a warm gold with some ornaments in white or silver.
We've also got some special ornaments that I'd like to show you today. We've got a little tradition: Five years ago, when John and I celebrated our first Christmas together, we had the idea to buy one special ball or other ornament every year. And here's our Christmas history so far:

2006 and 2007 we've visited the Christmas Market in Nuremberg, not far from us. It's quite a famous market and everything is sooooo romantic - when you watch the reports on TV :) So the next year (2008) we weren't in the mood for the Christmas Market and John found this cartoon ball in a supermarket and persuaded me. It doesn't really fit the style of the other balls, but somehow it's cute. The words mean: "Without you, Christmas sucks. Tree: sucks. Snowman: sucks." and so on :) The 2009 ornament is our favorite so far: an incredible fragile (and expensive) heart of glas with painting on it, bought in a gift shop.  I'm always afraid that one year I'll break it. So far, so good :)

Last year, 2010, we've been busy and almost forgot to buy an ornament, so the day before Christmas Eve, we've ran around town and finally bought this porcelain heart in a DIY Store. When I looked at it today, I thought it was a good choice after all:

This year - since it's my crochet year - I've decided early, that I wanted to make my own special crochet covered Christmas ball. Here it is, our special Christmas ornament 2011:

It took a while to make it: I didn't want to use a transparent plastic ball, but rather a real golden glass one. I had already expected to break a few balls and cut a few fingers, but everything worked out just fine :) First I've tried some given patterns from a Christmas crochet magazine, but either the size wasn't right for my ball, or the motif just didn't look good. In the end I took the pattern for a snowflake doily (from the same magazine), changed the center so that it would fit over the hanger of the ball, changed the number of stitches so that the fabric was ball-shaped, added a few beads, and closed the pattern at the bottom of the ball. Et voilá - another special Christmas ornament for our collection, and we're really looking forward to lots more :)