100 Days of Wonder – #76

The stories we tell ourselves and each other are remarkably powerful. That power can be both positive and negative of course but they’re always our stories and they can always be retold. Our Christmas tree is full of stories. Here’s a picture of it. Tinkerbell at the top, Disney baubles galore….

The tree, or rather the decorations because it’s a real tree, tell the story of mine and Kath’s life together. Every decoration means something and one thing is added each year. So the tree tells the story of the first Christmas in our house nearly 19 years ago with 2 cattens that required sacrificial baubles strategically placed. It tells of our first Disney trip and all the ones that came after as we made our own tradition of buying a decoration from the Christmas Shop in the Magic Kingdom on each trip. There are stories of friendship and memories of friends who should still be here but died far too young. There are stories of childhood and our pasts and futures intertwining. Most of all there are stories of us finding ourselves. Our tree is a story of the complexity of who we are. It’s Disney, it’s kitch, it has some classy bits, some expensive bits, some old, some new, some bought, some given to us, it’s past and future and it’s always full of joy and wonder. It feels like our Christmas tree is a strong reminder that we have found our place in the world, that we no longer feel any need to conform to any expectations or norms, that we are comfortable with who we are and that we no longer care what others think. Maybe we’ve been like that for a long time, I’m not sure. But decorating the tree, talking about the baubles as we placed them, laughing, acknowledging the sadness of some memories and the joy of others, it felt like we are exactly who we we’re meant to be and that’s a great privilege indeed.