CUMMING, Ga. — The Hall family loves decorating for Christmas, so much so they have more than a dozen trees in their house.
It's a special season for the family of four.
"The kids think it's the gifts, then it's the 14 trees. Right? But it's the one that we have that's truly what the meaning of Christmas is all about," said Jessica Hall when talking about one of the family's favorite traditions that started nine years ago.
"We love decorating a little early," said 11-year-old Mallory, who has two trees in the house she calls her own: one in her bedroom and one she calls her 'heart tree.'
Mallory was born a healthy baby until she was about a week and a half old and eventually was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy.
"I got sick, and I went to the hospital," said Mallory. "And they said I was fine with the medicine, but it wasn't working after two years. So we went back in, and I needed a new heart."
The Halls moved into Children's Healthcare of Atlanta while they waited and prayed to get the call telling them there was a heart for their baby girl.
After two months, in the middle of the night, Mallory's dad, Dustin, heard the phone ring.
"She looked at me and said, ‘Do you want a hug?’" Dustin remembered the nurse, Felicia, asking him. "And I gave her a hug, and it was like all two months of emotion finally came out of me."
After calling his wife, Dustin said he wanted to do one more thing before his daughter went into surgery.
"I went over and grabbed a stethoscope and listened to her heart, knowing that would be the last time," he said.
It's a moment that sparked a new tradition for the family. Each December 7, in honor of the day Dustin got the call, Mallory gets a new heart ornament to add to her heart tree.
"She hangs it every year," said Jessica. "I feel like it's one small thing that we can do to honor him or her."
Jessica teared up as she talked about knowing one family's loss led to her family's gain.
"That family, I couldn't imagine," she said through tears. "To make that sacrifice for our kid. I mean, we thought about it all the time."
Mallory doesn't know what family gave her the gift of a new heart.
"I would just thank them that I'm still alive today because of their child. And I just feel very lucky because of them," Mallory said. "And I wouldn't be possible if they hadn't helped."
A life Mallory is determined to celebrate every year.
This year, her ornament was complete with a green ribbon, representing her recent fight with lymphoma, which she beat in October.