I was tempted not to put up my Christmas tree this year - in fact I am often tempted not to... with everything else going on, and with only a couple of days left until Christmas, can I really be bothered.  Then I start to add the decorations, and almost every one of them tells a story (well, in some sense they all tell stories, but some more significant than others).  And then, having recalled precious memories, my tree is 'done' and I step back to enjoy it.

'Do this to remember me...' not to remember Jesus, in this case (well yes, obviously Jesus, it is his big do after all) but to remember... my grandma (the table cloth), my mum (the tree which she was with me when I bought, and together we chose the first decorations)... the nutcracker dolls my sister gave me long before they were fashionable, the knitted angel from the year we made a hundred to give away, the lock down year star, the hand made items bought for charity, the links to places and to people no longer living... a lasting ordinance perhaps?

My tree will probably make it to twelfth night before I pack it all way again.  This year, one new decoration bought at Chester Christmas market... a new chapter continues an ongoing story.