Must-have: The first Baylor Traditions Christmas ornaments

If your Christmas tree is like mine (or like these), it’s got more than its share of green-and-gold decorations. But we’ve never had anything quite like this before.

This year, the university has launched a new annual program — the Baylor Traditions Christmas ornaments. These two specially designed ornaments (pictured above) celebrate two of Baylor’s rich traditions.

One ornament features the university seal and celebrates Baylor’s reign as the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Engraved in the seal, of course, is the school motto: “Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana” — “For Church, for Texas” — which was adopted in 1851 and declares who we are today, and who we will be in the future. The plan is for this ornament to be sold each year.

The other ornament depicts the Baylor Bear, which the student body voted as the university’s official mascot on December 14, 1914. Three years later, Baylor had its first live mascot named Bruin; today, our on-campus bears are Judge Sue Sloan (Lady) and Judge Joy Reynolds (Joy), who keep our century-year-old tradition alive. Marked with the year, this design will be replaced by something new next year, so this is our first and only chance to collect this particular ornament.

Only 2,000 such ornaments have been produced; they are available with a $38 gift to the university, which must be placed by Nov. 30. Personally, I can’t wait to add these to my ornament collection each year.

Sic ’em, Bears!