The Glath family — John, left, Joy, Jacob, 4, Alina, 10, and the family cat, Bella — decorate their Christmas tree with engraved ornaments. The family adds a new ornament every year commemorating the charities in which they participate.

BUTLER TWP — John and Joy Glath have begun to amass a collection of special ornaments.

Adding one per season, the Glaths have the metal keepsakes engraved to commemorate charitable acts.

"The point is, I always want the children to know the true meaning of Christmas," Joy Glath said, explaining a ritual that surrounds the ornaments.

As part of that ritual, the family decides in advance what acts of charity to do that year. The acts are then carried out with their children Alina, 10, and Jacob, 4.

The ornament is then engraved and wrapped for opening on Christmas Eve.

"That's our gift to Jesus," Glath said, explaining that one of the children opens the gift and the other hangs it on the tree.

For the Glaths, the ritual reinforces the concept of giving. To emphasize this point, they ask what Jesus might want as a gift.

"It wouldn't be anything we could touch. It wouldn't be anything material," Joy said.

But part of the family's intent is also to share a meaningful tradition.

"Just because life is busy and the pace is so rushed, it doesn't mean you can't instill tradition in your family," Joy said.

"The thing that I find: No one wants to take time. We're caught up in that thing we're all caught up in: ourselves," her husband said.

Making a point to avoid that mindset, the Glaths' tradition includes getting into their "jammies" before singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, hanging the ornament, then reading the biblical and secular stories of Christmas.

Afterward, they pull out a three-ring binder labeled "The Glath Family Carols," complete with a table of contents and laminated printouts of various songs.

"Everybody can take turns picking out what they'd like to sing," Joy explained.

Although their holiday deeds have ranged from visiting the elderly to adopting a child from their church's Angel Tree — the Glaths say their options will increase as their children get older.

Alina says she envisions giving food to the poor, but has been happy with all the projects so far.

"I just like making Jesus happy because he's just a big gift as it is. So I just want to give something back to him."

"He did two things for us: He died and he came down as a baby," her brother added.

Having begun the tradition in 2000, the family's collection is just taking shape. They say they look forward to filling the tree.