He wanted a real tree. I wanted fake. He wanted a star, I wanted an Angel. We had maybe 10 ornaments for the tree. We were young and had just enough money to afford a small Charlie Brown Christmas tree (look it up if you’re too young for that reference).

 
We kept saying we would get a star next time we went shopping, or next time we got paid, but in the mean time, I didn’t love the bare tree top. My grandmother used to put a Santa hat on top of her tree when I was a child, and I did have a Santa hat…so temporarily we threw a Santa hat on top. Well, Christmas on your own is expensive when you’ve just moved cross country.

 
The Santa hat stayed that year, and we figured we would wait for a sale after Christmas to grab our star or angel. But expenses popped up, and a tree topper after Christmas felt easy to push to “next year.” Oh well get one “next year” or we don’t need one now, but “next year.”

Fast forward 22 years later and we still have a Santa hat on top of our tree. My children get a kick out of it, they love the story behind it, and now, while we don’t have an aesthetic tree like many do, we do have a lovely tree full of ornaments where each one holds a special memory.

 
So what traditions do you and your family still do for this holiday season? Is it a small tradition like ornament making? Is it a big one like traveling? Ours has become a Santa hat on top of the Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas, and Happy Hanukkah! I love that they coincided this year!