We’ve entered the busy Christmas travel period, with record numbers of people predicted to travel by car and air this year. I am thankful to say that we’ll be staying home, with family coming to us. I’d rather decorate the house and bake than face the roads and airports with the mass of humanity that will be traveling this year, but I understand the need and/or allure of an exotic holiday getaway or a family gathering.

However, that doesn’t mean I don’t get to reflect on locales far and wide. Every year as we pull out the ornaments and decorate our tree, we draw out a virtual scrapbook of our travels over the course of decades. As my daughters began their independent travels as college students, they gifted me with mementos of their trips as well. As I circle the tree, snapshots of trips to foreign lands as well as vacations on the nearby Oregon coast flash through my mind. Like many of you, I’m sure, I collect ornaments as souvenirs of the places I visit. Ideal for this purpose, they’re small and lightweight and are guaranteed to be used and seen at least once a year.

Most of these treasures bear some obvious or well-known symbol of their place of origin. Older daughter Sarah brought back this fleur-de-lis from a spring break service trip to New Orleans the spring after Hurricane Katrina.   Just last January my husband and I picked up our own souvenir there, a Santa painted on an oyster shell. On a springtime trip this year to Bruges, Belgium, daughter Jenny picked up a delicate ornament featuring one of that city’s famous commodities. 

Others were purchased simply on the basis of their charm, but they nevertheless recall specific memories of a time and place. A case in point is the little red wicker baby carriage, purchased at a coastal Christmas shop the summer I was expecting our younger daughter. This year it carries special significance for me, as she now awaits her own baby, due in a few weeks.

Some ornaments, crafted of fine materials and with expert workmanship, hang in close proximity to those made of more humble materials that nevertheless shine with their own bit of whimsy (or kitsch, depending on your point of view). A lovely porcelain disk presenting a scene of fishing boats from Astoria, Oregon,     shares the tree with cleverly crafted metal ornaments we picked up in Rosarito, Mexico, cut out of (I presume) aluminum cans.    This one, a simple laser-cut wooden outline of the state of Nebraska, recalls a cross-country road trip I took with my daughter when she moved to Oregon after graduating from college in Chicago. Another Chicago memory links to this little glass Santa purchased at the Christkindlmarket there several years ago.

Several ornaments were picked up on various cruises we’ve taken over the years, including this one of a Holland America Line cruise ship.   This little wooden Pinocchio puppet from the isle of Capri was purchased on my first cruise, with my sisters, almost 20 years ago and manages to withstand the enthusiastic tugs of my grandsons.   A two-week cruise in the Caribbean resulted in the purchase of these two, a small sea star from Key West, Florida,   and a depiction of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

There are several ornaments that recall tropical beach vacations in the midst of winter’s chill. Pineapples etched on native wood bring back memories of Maui,    and a fragile capice shell turtle reminds us of a lovely week spent on Kauai last year.

Yes, I’m perfectly content to be a homebody this Christmas, for I’ve got all the travel memories I need hanging right on my tree.

May you enjoy your holidays, whether they be spent close to home or rambling the globe, and may your New Year be filled with new explorations and adventures!

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor