If you've been watching Season 19 of CBS' long-running summer reality series, you've likely seen Big Brother housemate Christmas Abbott's tattoos. Thanks to the show's 24/7 surveillance, you can pretty frequently spot the self-proclaimed "fitness superstar" flaunting her colorful ink. She hasn't talked much about them on the footage included on-air, but with a little internet digging, you can learn a lot about the meaning behind her body art.
In a video for AOL Originals from 2013, Christmas revealed that she has "13 tattoos and counting." It's not entirely clear if she's added any since, and if so, which ones, but she she did discuss some of the history behind her tattoos at the time. She said she got her first one when she was 15, and that every one is a "very significant" piece of her life. "I love creating them, sitting with the artist, and seeing something that represents part of you and your life come to life," she explained. "I'm proud of all of my work."
On her calf is a Weeping Willow, which she got because as a kid, she'd pretend she was a princess and the tree was her castle. Moving on to her right hand, she has her brother's name, his birth state, and his birthday; on her left, she has her sister's name, her birth state, and her birth name.
The latter is especially significant, because when she was 13, Christmas and her sister, Kole, got in a serious car accident. According to Yahoo!, Kole was thrown from the car and fell into a coma. She survived, but had to re-learn how to walk. Christmas survived with only whiplash, but the experience left her shaken, and she said she started down a rebellious path of drinking, smoking, and slacking off in school. Eventually she joined the military, where she discovered CrossFit and started to become the athlete she is today. She inked a pistol on her right hip to commemorate her time in Iraq, where she learned to use guns safely and found that she enjoyed it.
Elsewhere in the AOL clip, Christmas describes the goddess on her right shoulder. The figure is holding one hand out in a welcoming wave, but in the other, she has a sword. "It's saying, 'Hi, I'll be nice, but don't cross me,'" she said.
She also has a compass on her right side accompanied by the quote, "Not all who roam are lost," which symbolizes everything she's gone through. "It helps me remember that I have a short time on Earth and that it is what I make it," Christmas said in the video. "That's one of the things that I wanted to show about tattoos, that you can have beautiful tattoos and break any glass ceiling that you want."
