Memories of Trees

Let's break out of our onward journey through time. This is a special occasion and that's always worth breaking habits for.

I remember so many beautiful xmas' but 2 stand out amongst all the others.

The first and stand out one is many years ago, I would have been 10 or 11 and had been living with my grandparents for a few months. My mother decided travelling all over the countryside with us wasn't very good so we were sent to visit. Which I didn't mind. My grandparents lived in a showground, so always exciting things happening there.

So back to the story, we arrived about a week before Christmas to see Mum and my stepfather again. Hervey Bay is a beautiful place and we ended up living here for a few years.
SO it was a small house, nothing fancy, cheap weatherboards in the same faded shade of "formerwhite" as every other weatherboard house. I was excited to be here with Mum again and remember thinking, this is not an expensive house, but it's a hell of a lot nicer than that tractor shed we lived in. SO excitement was building.

Xmas eve we had a nice dinner with my aunt and uncle who lived next door. Literally next door, within a month we would have a pulley from one kitchen to the other and a toyworld phone system acting as an intercom.

Bedtime arrived and I toddled off to sleep. I read my dangermouse book again. Mum read some with me. It was another one of this things I just didn't get. Colonel K. I pronounced it as COL-ON-EL not as Kernel. Even though I watched the show. I just pronounced it wrong. I suspect i just figured the word out on my own when younger and my photographic memory just stored it. Pity it stored it wrong.

I awoke early the next morning to my sister shaking me, "Kal, Kal come look its HUGE"
And I dropped off my bunk with an almighty thud which I'm sure woke parents for miles. And we made our way into the loungeroom, I literally stopped in my tracks and did a doubletake.

Here's little me, walking into the room, head down, eyes being rubbed. And wrapping paper comes into view. I look up and see a tree that dominates the room. ( there had been a smaller tree before now) And a stack of presents that would make Santa himself groan at the thought.

It can't have been more than 5 minutes before my Mum and Stepdad came out. Paul walked in in boxer shorts and a blue singlet, tattoo's proudly shining in the morning light. I was completely comfortable with this. What a surreal change this was from the home I'd grown up in. Fireplaces, jewels, leather furniture and deep deep carpets you could hide in.

But I've moved off track, they smiled at us and asked us to sit and then started to hand us presents. It was always a division of gifts first with my mother. You were handed all of your gifts and then opened them. Your own pace. None of this hand you one by one and see what you looked like with each gift.

So I sat there, carefully eyeing off my stack. An enormous bounty of goodies. And I peeled back the paper on the first one. It was enormous, as tall as I was when sitting, and the corner of paper showed me a sherriff's star. I was excited, not even knowin the contents of it, that star alone was all I would need.
The package ended up being the entire township for Marshall Bravestarr and further packages contained Tex Hexf, Thirty-Thirty the robot horse and the support characters and villians. Everyone except Bravestarr himself. Even a Motorised future stagecoash. I had never even seen Marshall Bravestarr, and to this day never laid eyes on the cartoon. But that didn't detract from how cool he was and the adventures we had. These action figures were enormous and the bar and jail and Kerium mine were fun and easy to use.
I only found out a few days ago that Marshall Bravestarr was a native american. The things we learn almosty 20 years later............

But that was an amazing morning, we were all together, it was fun, exciting, and I got the whole set. As superficial as it seems, I was only small and I had everything. Every package refers to friends, or "see also" "Also available" and I had it. Everything on every packet was in my hands, I didn't stop playng with them until dinnertime, and then afterwards I went back until I was ordered to bed.
(Next morning I found an unopened present in my pile of wrapping paper which turned out to be "Phaser Force" a toy laser gun set with targets you could wear on your chest and head or place on a shelf for "Phaser Target FUN!")

The next I recall is from a few years ago, I saw my entire family on the one day, for the first time in my life. Not all of the Aunts and Uncles, but a few of them. My Mother, a sister, Uncle, Auntie, a couple of friends, and my father. Which was a big occasion. It was spectacular. I was firmly in the "Parents" category by then, no more time at the kids table and I gave out more presents than I received, it didn't diminish the day in any way.

It's easy for us to lose track of Christmas, what it means and what it's about. There isnt a defined rule for everyone, this is the one time of year you should do your own thing. But I do suggest you find what Christmas means to you. Your place in it all.

No point wasting one, it only comes once a year, and you never know, you could be only a guest.

Merry Xmas to you all, especially to Boff and HG.