When my parents were first married, they didn't have much money and they couldn't afford store-bought ornaments for their first Christmas together.  Instead, they bought walnuts in the shell, cracked them carefully, and glued the nutshells back together with a loop between the halves for hanging.

For our first Christmas, I had my sweetie carefully crack walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts without telling why.  Later, I made each nut into an ornament and covered them with a little glitter, then wrote a not explaining about my parents' tradition and put it all into a small stocking for my sweetie. 

We've kept this tradition, remembering that even if times are hard, we can overcome it.  We've even started our own tradition, of painting the insides of almond shells with Christmas scenes (Nativity, angels, trees, etc.) to hang on our own tree!