My Christmas Tree Is My Travel Memory Box

Each ornament reminds me of a past trip

I’m not really a collector.

I don’t like trinkets cluttering my shelves. I don’t want to dust all of that.

But I make one exception: Christmas ornaments.

I don’t collect any old ornaments though. Instead, I buy ornaments while traveling.

I love traveling and I love Christmas. I’m not sure which is my bigger love, so when they combine, it’s a perfect combination.

And this form of collecting is practical too.

For one, I can take out the collection once a year, reminisce about each ornament as I put it on the tree, and then within two months, they are put away for the following year. No dusting is necessary. No cluttering either.

And secondly, this form of collecting works while traveling. An ornament is small and therefore easy to pack away in my travel bag. One ornament per trip is the limit unless I’m going to multiple countries.

Lastly, since each ornament is so personal from each trip, it’s not like people can buy these ornaments for me and give me unwanted gifts. (One time, my sister mentioned she liked elephants. I bet she regrets that day because now my mom always buys her something if it has an elephant on it. << This is what I try to avoid.)

In December, I pull out the boxes of ornaments. Each time I reach into the box to pull out a new one, I am reminded of the trip. Where I went. What I saw. What I ate. And above all else, who I went with and who I met while traveling.

In the years when I haven’t traveled much, I still get to relive the excitement of traveling and the memories of past trips. Each year, I get to re-travel around the world, one ornament at a time.

Above on the left is an ornament from the Netherlands, the country I chose to become my new home. In the middle is a glass, hand-painted ball from South Africa where I backpacked for a month with cousins. The third is a handmade, painted ornament from a cute little shop in Portugal while I was traveling by campervan.

I have a set of these reed star ornaments from Germany, a stuffed fish from Hong Kong, and slippers from Turkey. Although I bought all of these years ago, a bonus of all three of these ornaments is that they are not breakable. It’s a bonus for stuffing in a suitcase, but also now for the small hands that want to pull everything off my tree.

The snorkeling Santa and Mrs. Claus ornament above is one of my favorites. Not only is it so cheerful, but it reminds me of a girl’s trip to the Cayman Islands with my sister and friend. We went scuba diving each morning, hung out by the pool and beach during the afternoons, and went out to eat each evening. The trip was in December so we were able to see the island dressed up for the holidays, all while wearing shorts and bathing suits.

My children are too young right now, but one day, we will decorate the tree together and I will tell them about each trip while we hang up the ornaments. Maybe it will inspire them to go off and have their own adventures around the world.