Shopping on tour is a must!

Everyone likes to buy things when they travel. It's so much fun to browse through the stores and look over all of the local items.

My favorite items to buy are Christmas ornaments from all the unique places I've traveled to. At this time of year, I pull them out and remember the exact place each ornament was bought. Christmas ornaments are great items to buy as they are usually small and easy to tuck into suitcases. They are also great presents for friends.

My best ever Christmas ornament story has to do with the hand-blown ornaments bought in Kraków, Poland, at a United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) out-of-country meeting. I was walking the streets of Kraków and saw this very interesting shop with glass ornaments hanging from the window. This was in the early '90s and I had just heard about Christopher Radko hand-blown ornaments. I stopped dead in my tracks and spied all of these beautiful ornaments in this small out-of-the-way shop. I went into the shop and knew these were the ones I had heard so much about back in Chicago. I knew they were expensive back home so I asked the clerk the price. Now I didn't speak Polish (I still don't) and she didn't speak English, yet she held up two fingers which meant two Polish Zloty, which was about $3.00 apiece. I was dizzy as I knew that Christopher Radko ornaments in the United States began at a minimum of $40 dollars and went up from there. I exited the store with around five dozen ornaments - with a big smile (and glitter) all over my face.

When scouting out Christmas ornaments, I look for locals who are physically making the ornaments and who sign them. Such is the case with the wooden angel from Mykonos, Greece. This ornament was hand-cut and made out of wood as well as hand-painted. I love that the wings move when it hangs.

In 1985, John and I and the family spent a month in Cape Cod. To this day, I still don't know how we made the time to go as we were in the throes of Mayflower Tours. This ornament represented a local cottage. It is made out of a hard substance and is also hand-painted and signed. It always reminds me of that family vacation with John, myself, two kids and two dogs in a station wagon crossing half the United States to get there.

Israel has always been one of my favorite destinations. In Bethlehem, I bought an entire nativity set made out of olive wood. I purchased this small nativity scene ornament and have always loved the simplicity and meaning of it. All were blessed in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

I have been very fortunate to have traveled the world, and each holiday season I remember my trips through these ornaments. Life is good!