THE Christmas tree and all its trimmings went up on Sunday. Very little else goes up around the house but that’s OK because the tree more than makes up for a lack of decoration elsewhere. It’s laden with ornaments and garlands of tinsel dating back over the 12 years my partner and I have been together. Each year I give the children their own ornament and each year we gather together to put them up and tell stories of years past, drink copious amounts of tea and eat. This year we came together for a late breakfast with a big bowl of fresh fruit salad and strawberry muffins.

My favourite decorations are the ones the children have made, like the pasta angel, and the framed photos. The photos date back to a year when our eldest lived away from us. We’d moved town and she’d stayed to finish the last two years of high school among friends. We’ve never tried to edit the pictures, nor array of ornaments, into something other than what they are. Those framed photos tell a story of that year while other ornaments, handmade from paper and paddle-pop sticks, tell of years when it was a struggle, emotionally and financially, to stage Christmas. I am proud our family has these traditions that echo its history and leave room for growth.