Storytelling Three: Pick Your Precious

Welcome to the final Storytelling Sunday! I can't tell you how much it has come to mean to me over the past three years, how many of your stories are still floating around in my head, how happy it has made me to watch connections being made around the world, all because of the stories. Storytelling Sunday may be coming to an end, but we'll always have the stories, right? So, shall we? One last time?

The Click of a Wedding Ring

I've thought many times, over the past couple of months, of the story I would tell for the end of the year. I had almost decided on the one about Nicky, the doll my Mum dressed for me the year I was nine. She has a real anorak, cut down from one of my own, and a Sunday best blue wool coat and beret, fashioned to look like the one I wore myself at the time. She has trousers.skirts, a kilt and a cardigan that sports the brooch I got in my cracker and gave her almost at once. Or, I had mulled over the story of the dolls house my new husband gave me the first Christmas we were married. He'd saved up and carried it home without me knowing a thing about it and it's still my best Christmas surprise ever. But, in the end, I found something unexpected to bring together our three years of Sundays. It's a little story that can be told in a few sentences and with one photo, and it's definitely precious. It goes like this:

The (Not So) Small One has been suffering school exams these past two weeks; and when that happens, she tends to turn up home at unexpected hours. Physics she'll say brightly, as she crashes through the door at lunchtime. Finished. And so, we decided to use the afternoon for some baking. She begged, I gave in, and we pulled out everything we needed for a first batch of Christmas mince pies.

I'll roll out the pastry and you spoon on the mince she decided, and she made a start. Then she stopped.
No, she said. It's no good. You'll have to roll. That way, she said, that way I'll be able to hear...the click of your wedding ring on the rolling pin. It's one of the best sounds in the world, the click of your ring on the rolling pin.

And I knew she was right. It is. I remember the click of my Mum's ring against the cool white of her wedding gift rolling pin as she made pastry for our Christmas; and a more comforting rhythm I still can't imagine. Sometimes Christmas is in the very smallest of sounds.

And sometimes the story is in the very smallest of scenes. Sometimes we see a circle we didn't even know we had joined, a band we have brought together. So, for one last time..think about writing a post and joining our circle.You have all week to dream up something you'd like to share - as it's the last time, maybe even one of your favourites from a past Sunday? - and a full seven days to pick a few storytellers and say hello.  If you have been following along from the sidelines, now's your chance to come on over: we'd love to have you with us. Let's make this a Christmas Storytelling session supreme.

I'm going to finish up today by sending out my very many thanks to everyone who has been part of Storytelling Sunday over the past three years. It's been such a pleasure to  watch the stories appear and to travel the globe, dropping in for a yarn. There would have been no stories without you and I'm hoping everyone who has taken part feels proud of every one of their posts. And the best bit? Now we'll all have them to remember whenever we want to. Exactly the way it should be.

And Storytelling Sunday itself? I'm sure it won't disappear completely. In fact I'm thinking a few flash appearances now and then might be a boost for the Blog Cos You Want To Club. You know what that means? keep those notebooks handy: you never know when you might feel the need to write....