My Special Tree Stand

Lots of people have a favorite holiday and favorite traditions. These are memorable moments in our lives where we create and celebrate the memories that molded us from childhood to our present. For some people it's having a real tree every year, perhaps going with dad to the tree farm to cut it down yourselves, or the children decorating the tree with mom with ornaments that were handmade or specifically chosen to represent a special memory. Christmas traditions can vary from family to family, much less from culture to culture, and many people have very unique traditions.

Christmas traditions can vary from family to family... from culture to culture, and many people have very unique traditions.

I would like to share with you one of my favorite things about Christmas, my favorite tradition. For as far back as I can remember my family (as in my parents and siblings) have always had a rotating tree stand my entire childhood. I don't know where mom got it but I don't remember a Christmas without it. It was a Star Bell Christmas Tree Stand, and I always loved it and thought it was very special. It was gold colored with glitter on it that made it sparkle and it had a built-in music box that gently played Jingle Bells. My family's tree stand had a foot pedal button to turn the tree on and off with. I always thought that it was cool that I could turn on the tree without my hands, granted, that was before remote controls were invented.

I've thought many times about why the tree stand was so important to me, and I think it's because I had a traumatic childhood. I moved several times a year sometimes and lived with abusive men, there was always fighting in my house, day and night, and it was rare that I could find a peaceful moment in my home. School was no better because I was always the new kid and was always bullied at every school I attended. I lived with severe depression and anxiety. I was alone with no friends or relatives to talk to, but every Christmas when the tree was up I found peace, being soothed by a slowly rotating, gently singing tree stand. I would just sit in the dark for hours after everyone went to bed and would let my troubles melt away as the tree turned. It was so comforting, during a time when I felt so alone and very little comforted me.

But then I grew up and soon had a family of my own, I wanted so badly to have a rotating tree stand for my children to grow up with as I did, but as hard as I tried I couldn't find one of any good quality. Every stand I bought only worked for a short time and then stopped working, the motor would usually always burn up. None of them were like my family's tree stand. The Star Bell was a great quality tree stand that worked for years. In fact, after working great for my entire childhood, it still worked when my mother threw it away.

[E]very Christmas when the tree was up I found peace, being soothed by a slowly rotating, gently singing tree stand. I would just sit in the dark for hours after everyone went to bed and would let my troubles melt away as the tree turned.

One year my mom decided to become a Jehovah Witness and declared that she would no longer celebrate holidays. I begged her for the family tree stand and decorations and my childhood stocking, but she threw it all away like it never meant a thing, saying that if she didn't believe in holidays, then why would she give the holiday decorations to someone else. I argued that I didn't believe like she did and the Christmas stuff meant the world to me, but she still threw it away. I felt like I didn't mean anything to her and it was just another wedge of many that distanced me from my mother. I was devastated that she would throw away something that meant so much to me, knowing that I wanted it.

Years went by and my children grew into adults. I was always so disappointed that I couldn't find a good rotating tree stand for my children to grow up with, but then inventions such as the internet and search engines eventually made it possible for me to find my long lost and beloved Star Bell tree stand, just like the one I grew up with. I was so happy to find them that I bought four of them, two for me and one for each of my daughters, so their children can always know the tree stand that I grew up with and form their own lifelong memories that are hopefully as precious to them as the memories of the stand that I carry in my heart.

I hope you have something special to comfort you when holidays are hard.

Sometimes holidays change from year to year because of changing circumstances in our lives, family members move away, pass on, or divorce, and then we feel melancholic and no longer wish to celebrate. But to me Christmas has never really been a celebration, to me it's a time of remembering the past good times, a time of healing, and a time of hope that people can be better to one another, and I feel all of this while I watch my tree turn.

It's amazing to me how after all these years this tree stand still has the power to soothe my troubles away. I still enjoy watching it for hours at a time. To me it's a very special stand, it's almost like a magical thing because there is so little in this world that actually comforts me, so this stand is very special to me. I hope your family is as lucky as to have special traditions like my tree stand, and I hope you have something special to comfort you when holidays are hard. May your heart and soul be well, happy holidays.

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