So my family tree would be a ten-foot-tall Norfolk pine. With soft needles, really, really fragrant. And deep, deep green. And I would be the trunk and the roots. And at the top of my pine would be a star. And the star would be a stylized version of me. With my eyes and my lips and sort of my face just slightly sketched in. Nothing fancy, nothing photographic, just me. And my children and my husbands would all have sections on the tree. 

So husband number one would have an ornament that was a car. A snazzy red car. Something fast, like a Porsche. And husband number two would have a silver convertible. And his ornament would be on the other side of the tree, because they could never be on the same side. And then my children. Each child would have an ornament showing something that they enjoyed doing. And what we’ve done in the past is we’ve all had sort of not handmade ornaments but semi-handmade ornaments, where you take something and make it a little bit better. So my oldest child would have a chocolate bar. And the next one would have a typewriter. And the next one would have a rolling pin. And then the next one would have a camera, like the kind that you make movies with. And the next one would have barbells. And then the last one would have a sled.

Each one of those ornaments represents something about that child. And then my grandchildren would all have ornaments. And their ornaments would be pictures, little framed pictures. We did popsicle stick pictures one year, so we had little tiny pictures framed with popsicle sticks, because they’re lightweight and you could put them on the tree. Each grandchild would have a picture framed with popsicle sticks. And the great-grandchildren, they all have little toys, like little wooden toys, little trains, cars, and dolls. And interspersed around the tree would be angels made of straw and feathers to represent all of those who used to be with us who are not with us anymore. 

And that would be our tree.