My very accepting 22 year old daughter and I were in a hobby store today, primarily to see if we could find any deeply discounted Halloween decorations, on the day after the holiday. I am at the mid point of month three of living full-time female, now that I have committed to full MtF transition.
We check out different aisles, and she comes back to me after a while with a big grin on her face. She hands me a Christmas ornament, one clearly intended to celebrate a baby girl's first Christmas - a pink and white teddy bear, with a snow-globe-like tummy, and the 2018 year on a banner on the base. She flicks a switch on the base, and grins wider as the bear's tummy cycles through rainbow colors.
"This is for you," she said, still grinning happily. "After all, it is going to be 'her' first Christmas, isn't it?"
God, I love my kid! Yeah, we bought it.
Especially poignant... because we don't yet know how my being full time female will affect our Christmas plans this year.
I can't celebrate with my sister and her 4 adult kids and their spouses, because her homophobic husband hates me. And he doesn't even know yet that I have committed to full transition. He just knows I cross dress socially, and that I am bi.
We have in the past spent at least part of Christmas with my two sisters in law - the sisters of my late wife. Last year, they were the only family we celebrated with. They will be finding out in the next week that I've been largely living as a woman since my wife's death 4 years ago, and that I am now full time female. They are both very liberal families, and I hope they will be accepting, but I won't know until they respond to the news... I mean, finding out that their late little sisters husband is now female?
