The wind brushes past tints of red, white, and blue on a cloth accented with 50 stars. Each color takes me back to Christmas eve, and the stars paint a vibrant picture in my head. But all of these memories tie together to symbolize a specific freedom that this flag grants me…the freedom of religion.

I focus in on the maroon stripes stretching across our flag: they resemble a flawless ribbon, wrapping around a pine tree on a crisp Christmas night. Carefully, this ribbon was draped in a circular motion by believers of the Christian faith.

I shift my eyes to the white patterned base of the flag, just as it’s a base color for my family and our religion. It’s a sign of purity, and also a symbol like the angel that tops our tree every Christmas eve.

Next is the navy blue which hides behind the stitching of the stars. Likewise, a similar hue blends in behind branches to add mesmerizing depth to the tree. They’re strategically placed in the crooks of the tree by youthful adolescents wearing their nicest church clothes.

The stars are all individual ornaments, either created by the kindergarten kids or premade into angel wings, baby Jesus, and mother Mary by someone carrying a same belief. They dangle from the branches, carefully placed.

All colors combined, the flag creates both a vivid memory of my family Christmas, and also a vision of a flag that stands for the religious freedoms of each family.