We’ve had a long tradition of purchasing ornaments on our travels. We have an old house, with high ceilings and we put a pretty tall tree in it every year. In the early years it was pretty bare, but over time it’s filled. Our families know that we love ornaments, and they find some pretty amazing ones throughout the year as well. But those travel ones are some of my favorites, and we remember and talk about each place as we unwrap them from the tissue paper and hang them on the tree. Because they are collected throughout the year, they are stored in a cabinet and not with the rest of the Christmas things packed away each season in the basement. So when they come out at the beginning of December to join the collection they are a very real and present representation of what we’ve been up to throughout the year. Two years ago we had a stack of them – and it was fun to recall all of the adventures our family had taken together. This year was much smaller – just two small ornaments picked up in a small town near my grandmother’s farm. It’s been a year of cutting back, and travel has been one of them. But the tree is there – it’s tall, it’s full, and when you think of where we started eleven years ago and where we are today – well, the branches are dripping with sweet memories and colorful blessings. And truly, no matter where our travels take us, it’s coming home that we like the best.
