Life in a box... just a tree

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What’s a Christmas tree?

This year has been rough to say the least.

But, as I sit here and look at this tree, and I look at these stockings I see more than just a tree. I see memories, I see love, I see pain, I see hope.

You see this this tree? It’s full of ornaments that have been bought each year and hung with care. Every single one of them has a story, a meaning, and a past. It leans to the front and is just a little fucked up, just like me.

You see these stockings? I bought these stockings after my divorce because I wanted new ones for just me and my girls to have. Something just for me, something I could keep and have that was new and would grow old with me.

What about the fireplace? You know it’s the same one I have built a fire in for the last 7 years. It will be the same one I build a fire in for the next 7 too. I’ve built fires in it before my divorce, and now I build fires in it after wards. Symbolically it will burn on Christmas morning because thats a tradition I will always keep.

My family will come over and my kids will unwrap gifts and we will build more memories in front of this ragged old tree that thankfully still lights up.

The stockings will be hung each year until the day I die, and the hopefully I’ll add new ones to the mantle one day. We will keep adding new ornaments to the tree, each with its own story and meaning behind it. So, that the following year we can laugh or cry about what this tree represents to everyone thats ever been apart of it.

Christmas is not about a tree, or what goes under it, not about what goes on it, or inside it. It’s not how a tree looks, it’s not about the lights, or the candy or the food.

Christmas is about the memories and the love that’s shared. The people you are with, and the ones you miss.

So, cheers to this old tree! Because it has more meaning to me than it will ever know.