Memories of a cult child

\You must search out and find the true unhypocritical worship that will bring you God's peace and protection. Does any such worship exist today? Millions have found it among Jehovah's Witnesses.\" True Peace and Security- From What Source? (How Can You Find It?) 1986. *** In the corner between the kitchen doorway and the lounge room dresser stands our first Christmas tree. It hosts a strange assortment of decorations. Being an only child I have been left in charge of decorating it. One long gold piece of tinsel and a short thin wiry strip of gold tinsel had been delicately intertwined between the dark green branches of the tree and an eclectic selection of gaudy red and gold coloured baubles hastily bought from Chickenfeed Tasmania's cheap budget store their metallic coating easily scratched. A large padded material bell sits alongside the tree. 1991 turned out to be one of the most eventful years of my childhood. I was 12 years old and it was the first time a Christmas tree had stood in our house. It was my last year at primary school I got my period that summer and Santa visited me for the first time. My first Christmas and indeed every Christmas after that was a lonely one as if I was looking in from the outside. Being able to celebrate what other children had been celebrating for years was an exhilarating and exciting occasion but how was I supposed to celebrate it? I woke up that morning so long ago with a traditional Santa sock at the end of my bed. A large thick plastic bag with a Santa design on the front. The important part was it was crammed full of presents. I was delighted. Finally I was doing what every other kid had been doing. Then with a mounting feeling of dismay I realised that Christmas morning was an anticlimax."