The Best Livestock-Themed Christmas Trees Full of Memories and Meaning
One of the things I love most about Christmas trees is the power they evoke to simply remember. To remember loved ones, past celebrations, milestones and more.
That’s one reason why the Crome family chose to design their Christmas tree with rosettes and ribbons commemorating their passion – showing pigs.
“It’s far too easy to lose track of the specifics of the moments that helped to shape the lives of our children,” says Aaron Crome, father of Megan and Thomas. “Each rosette sparked memories of the mountains of hard work it took for each one to be earned and then brought home to Marshall, Ill. More than anything, it was a great reminder of the time we were fortunate enough to spend as a family all year long working up to the shows. That will be ours forever.”
Nolan Lee of Wellington, Ill., began putting up this special tree in his room last year. He lives for showing cattle - just like his Papaw Bill Couch. The ribbons on his tree are some of Lee's most special wins, and the hat used as the topper was his Papaw's, who passed away five years ago.
The Johnson family of Maquoketa, Iowa, originally put up their ribbon tree in 2021 to show off the ribbons they had won throughout the year. But last year, Santa started a new tradition and brought metal photo ornaments for each child with their heifer for the year and five images of them at the backdrop over the course of the year, explains Ashley Johnson.
She admits they had no idea how significant Santa’s gift would be until they got out the decorations this year and started decorating the tree. They uncovered the ornament of their son Ty with his heifer Jorga from 2022.
“She had some success, and we were pretty proud of our bred-and-owned female,” Johnson says. “However, God had other plans and we lost her and her calf due to calving complications this past winter. Seeing the ornament and hanging her on the tree certainly brought a tear to our eyes as she is dearly missed and was a very memorable first heifer Ty showed at a junior national.”
After growing tired of the same decorations year after year, Lizzie Schafer of Owaneco, Ill., was inspired to think outside of the box one Christmas. She gathered mementoes from livestock event travels and went to work creating a tree that was more than just another tree.
“This tree is special to me and my entire family because to us, Christmas is a time to be together and to reflect back on the year. For us, the Christmas tree symbolizes far more than just the ribbons and plaques presented. It reminds us that nothing worthwhile comes easy and that we should be thankful each day for every single opportunity that we are given,” Schafer says. “When looking at the tree, we are reminded of how blessed we are to have the opportunity to be involved in agriculture and to be a part of these organizations that have shaped my brother and I into who we are today.”
Here are some special livestock-themed Christmas trees filled with memories to last a lifetime.
Tammy Heaton of Monroe, Iowa
“I love putting up Christmas trees and loved all of the time my son and I spent in the barn working on show animals. So when it came to decorating a tree in a room that already had pictures from our experiences, what better to do than a ribbon tree! I used 25 ear tags to represent the days in December until Christmas and some of the ribbons my son had won. It was also nice to be able to pull out the ribbons that represented all his hard work that otherwise get forgotten in a container.”
Rachel Torbert of Wapella, Illinois
“This tree is in my office. I work for an advertising agency which has agricultural clients. I’ve worked in ag my entire career, so an ag tree just made sense! Growing up on a farm, farm ornaments were always given as gifts so I had lots of decorations to go with it! I have many ornaments on my tree which have sentimental meaning: FFA (I was very active in FFA) ornaments, ornaments given to me by grandparents or other family, and ornaments that remind me of my time growing up on the farm.”
Marisa Winter, Idalou, Texas
“We wanted to have a tree to remember the great memories we made over Colter’s first stock show season. I added backdrop pictures from throughout the year to ornaments with what he won and his animal’s name on the back. We hope to continue to add each year to our ‘show’ tree.”
Nolan Lee of Wellington, Illinois
"Papaw Bill Couch instilled a love for the livestock industry within me, and it's pretty special for me to have him be a part of my Christmas tree. The hat is just as it was when Papaw wore it -- sweat stained and dusty, just as he liked it."
The Johnson Family – James, Ashley, Ty, Lane and Addie of Maquoketa, Iowa
“In addition to ribbons, the tree is adorned with blue, purple and champagne bulbs (the colors of first place, champions and what you drink to celebrate a victory), as well as a paper chain the kids made three years ago that they felt we needed for the tree. We also have a few little show steers purchased out of Canada last year, as well as cowhide flowers handmade by a lady in Wisconsin. It’s our cow tree and we are very proud of it and all the trips down Memory Lane it takes us and will continue to take us each year.”
Beth Gaines of Westmoreland, Kansas
“Christmas trees should be filled with memories. This one my daughter Kara decorated certainly fits that bill as it recollects livestock events, judging triumphs and even a dog show ribbon or two.”
Aaron Crome of Marshall, Illinois
“We are very fortunate to have an in-house creative team consisting of Mary Ann and Megan. We were cleaning out some ‘old’ boxes and came across quite a stash of ribbons and banners from the past 15 years. Megan also created the tree topper out of a variety of extra purple rosettes as a 4-H project that year.”
Wendy Greiner of Keota, Iowa
“We started using ribbons on our tree in 2016. We thought it was a fun idea because it shows what our family enjoys doing – showing sheep. Plus, we never know what to do with all the ribbons! It is so special to me because it shows the kids’ hard work and dedication to something they love.”
Lizzie Schafer of Owaneco, Ill.
“When designing the tree, I looked through every photo taken throughout the year and wrote down which mementos needed to be included. From there, I just put the awards on the tree in empty spaces until it was filled. I noticed that something was missing, so I added the cowboy hat as the star for a finishing touch.”
Heather Roeder of Aledo, Illinois
“I decorated this cheap, 6-ft. tree for my son Kade’s room. I added some burlap garland to fill in the holes, threw on some ribbons and various ornaments. Some of the ornaments were pictures of his cattle and others were cattle ornaments I picked up at shows. I even put ShowTimes stickers on cheap ornaments and our R/B brand. It’s nothing special, but he loves it.”
The McDonnell Sisters of Union City, Indiana
“We chose this theme to celebrate the success of our 2023 show season! We love sharing stories of our favorite pigs and moments with everyone that sees the tree. We even let Marka, age 2, hang her first banner on the tree this year. We don’t have a strategic way we decorate it, other than adding the banners and ribbons where they fit best.”
Amy Smith of Verona, Illinois
“Our kids’ love of their show animals comes out in everything they do. So naturally, they asked for a pig Christmas tree to combine two things they loved. It started with making pigs out of Christmas bulbs. The kids loved making the ornaments look like the different breeds. Then we added more the next year with traditional ornaments (each kid gets a wooden block ornament every year with a current picture) and made tree slice pig ornaments to add to the tree. They were even gifted a paint your own pig ornament kit and painted their ornaments this year to look like favorite show animals from the past. We have had a lot of fun making the ornaments and I love watching the family project come together.”
Jennifer Slagle of Grinnell, Iowa
“This tree is very ‘Anna’ and is one of my favorites. Initially she just wanted blue lights on her tree and then decided on her own to add her ribbons and banners from pig shows (already hanging on her walls). She also added a stuffed pig to the tip with a zip tie from her show box! Over the years, we have added blue and purple ornaments to complete the look. Every ribbon has a meaning and most importantly – a memory.”
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