Last time I talked about the Expat Christmas Tree, all the ornaments that we have representing the places we were at during the holiday season. Those ornaments are mine and my husband’s, not our kids’. They will have the opportunity to have them when we are finished with them one day.

My kids have their own ornaments. This is a tradition that my mother started years ago with me. When I was young, I received one ornament each Christmas until I left home.

She has carried out this tradition with my children. They each get an ornament each Christmas.

It is not anything huge or grand, but it is to them.

Each year we let them hang their ornament on the tree. They look at the train or the princess in detail and talk about the year they got that. They hang up their precious ornament with care. They brag to each other and to us about “their” ornament. I love this tradition.

1. History. We hear what they remember from Christmas’ past. What is on their hearts and what they are thinking. It is like a little window into their lives that we get a little glimpse.

2. Ownership. The Christmas tree is really theirs. They take pride in it knowing that “their” ornaments are on it.

3. Future: When they grow up and move away, they have ornaments for their first tree. Ornaments that tell a history. Ornaments that can draw them to a place of “home”, if only in their minds.

Our Christmas tree isn’t grand. It isn’t fancy. It is definitely isn’t one you’d see pictured in a magazine, but it is a tree full of history. History from Christmas’ past, with stories to tell.

What traditions do you have with your child(ren) during the Christmas season? Please share in the comments below.