Tonight, my daughter and I decorated our Christmas tree. We are not the kind of family with super posh and coordinated holiday decorations. But I loooove my Christmas tree.

My husband pulls the fake tree out of the closet. I turn on the Hanson Christmas albums. And we start decorating.

As I place each ornament on the tree, I smile and reflect on a special memory. You see, while my ornaments may not all match, each and every one is part of my story. I love to travel. On every trip I take, I carefully select an ornament to add to my collection. Each year, as I decorate the tree, I get to think about all of the places I have been.

I have so many favorite ornaments that I cannot share them all. Here are a few.

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Of course, we also have lots of Disney ornaments, so I get something different each visit.

Not all of our Christmas ornaments are from travel. Many are special because they were handmade by my grandmother. She has given me many homemade ornaments over the years. These are just a couple.

Some ornaments don’t represent my travels, but rather my home!

Other ornaments represent important life events. The church plaque pictured below is where my husband and I got married. The long thin Santa shell was bought on our honeymoon. The angel shell is from my daughter’s baptism.

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And of course, like any good tree, there are the Christmas ornaments made by the hands of a small child at school or elsewhere.

My tree is eclectic. But I wouldn’t have it any other way!