For 15 years, Texas House lawmakers have asked their constituents to design holiday ornaments that highlight unique aspects of their communities.

This year, over 100 hand-decorated ornaments sit on a 23-foot Virginia pine tree. The tree was grown at Elves Christmas Tree Farm in Denison, which is located just south of the Texas-Oklahoma border.

Community Impact spoke with lawmakers and artists about some ornaments from the Austin, San Antonio and Houston areas. Keep reading to learn about the local culture and see photos of the artwork.

Randolph Field ISD, Universal City

Kasyen Saunders, a senior at Randolph High School in Universal City, decorated an ornament for House District 118. The area is represented by Rep. John Lujan, R-San Antonio.

Saunders’ ornament features a fighter jet and the administration building on Randolph Air Force Base, where the school district is located. Randolph Field ISD serves local military families and is one of three school districts on Joint Base San Antonio.

“[Going to school on the base] is really great because we all have the same sort of background and we're always moving around, so we're all kind of a close-knit community,” Saunders said.JBSA is the largest joint base in the American military, according to RFISD superintendent Brian Holt.

Since RFISD is located on a federal installation, the district does not collect property taxes, unlike most Texas public school districts. Holt said the district receives about 50% of its funding from the state and the other half from the federal government.

“It’s a constant process for us to make sure that we're providing the very best to the students of Randolph Field and when we're serving this military community, which is giving tremendously back to the United States of America in terms of national defense, but also our local economy,” Holt said. “This area here is thriving, and that's due in large part to the economic impact that these military bases have.”

Lujan said RFISD is a “shining jewel” in the area.

“One of the things that's really important to me is that we get the community involved,” Lujan said. “Randolph [is] a real tight community; it's a community that really looks after each other.”

The Miakan-Garza Band, San Marcos

Democratic Rep. Erin Zwiener represents the majority of Hays County, located south of Austin. Zwiener spoke with Community Impact about the ornament for House District 45, which was decorated by Cindy Tobar Hernandez of the Miakan-Garza Band.

The Miakan-Garza Band is a Central Texas Indigenous community with ties to the Coahuiltecans, a group of tribes native to South Texas and northeast Mexico.

The ornament is “a means of connecting with the community, fostering conversations, and preserving the invaluable heritage of indigenous peoples,” Tobar Hernandez said in a statement shared by Zwiener.

“It was an honor to paint this ornament for the district and represent our native culture and region,” Tobar Hernandez said.

The ornament, shown below, depicts a heron pulling a deer through the San Marcos Springs, which is part of the Coahuiltecan creation story, according to the statement.“In Texas, just because of some of the dynamics of our history, [indigenous] heritage is less visible than it is in other western states,” Zwiener said. “A lot of the indigenous communities in Central Texas, notably the Coahuiltecan group, were often hispanicized very early and brought into the Spanish mission system.”

Zwiener, a fifth-generation Texan, said she did not learn about the Coahuiltecans until she was an adult and is grateful the Miakan-Garza Band is represented on the House tree.

“Texas is a big state with 30 million people, and the tradition of the ornament lets us highlight people from every corner of Texas,” she said. There's 150 districts, so it's 150 different communities represented in one way or another. It’s really beautiful to see all the pieces come together.”

San Anto Cultural Arts, San Antonio

House District 123, represented by Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, is home to a community art center called San Anto Cultural Arts. SACA hosts children ages 8-18 years old for a free after-school arts program; runs a youth newspaper called El Placazo; and works with local artists to create murals throughout the community.

Jeremiah Naranjo, a 20-year-old SACA alumnus who lives in San Antonio’s west side, decorated an ornament for the House tree. Naranjo has participated in all of SACA’s programs, according to youth coordinator Sarah Tijerina.“Our mission is to foster human and community development through community-based arts,” Tijerina said. “We hire specifically local artists who are engaged in their craft and do this work all the time, and can come into the space and engage with students. ... These students are able to develop community and network with each other, but also with artists in the community.”

Comal ISD, Spring Branch

Republican Rep. Carrie Isaac, who represents Comal County and a portion of Hays County, said her office sent blank ornaments to five high schools across House District 73. An ornament decorated by a student at Smithson Valley High School, located in unincorporated Comal County, was selected for the tree.

“House District 73 is one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation... but we do still have a lot of ranches and grasslands and open areas,” Isaac said. “Texas is very diverse, so when you look at all the different ornaments, it does reflect how big the state is.”The Opportunity Center, Houston

The Opportunity Center, located in southwest Houston, is a school and community center for justice-involved youth. The center opened in November 2023 at the site of a former juvenile correctional facility. Students can earn high school credits or work toward their GED through traditional and vocational courses, Community Impact previously reported.

“The Opportunity Center is an effort to basically try to help with the school-to-prison pipeline,” said Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, who represents a portion of Harris County in House District 137. “It's an effort to improve the community while providing services to a population that fairly badly needs it and needs an opportunity for a second chance.”

Wu said other members of the community can also visit the Opportunity Center for support and to take classes.

“I'm always proud to make sure that we have people who are not always represented make the ornament,” Wu said. “We want to remind the rest of Texas that those communities are here, and they're not going to go away just because you ignore them.”