O Christmas Tree

On Saturday, we ventured out in between events to get a fresh-cut Christmas tree. Because of mold concerns, I always try to get one that has been cut within the last week, and especially after Ginger's scary time in the hospital, I want to keep any allergens down. Also, I think it's not healthy to buy a tree that was cut in September, spray painted green, and thrown in water to wait...yuck! And I refuse to get a fake tree, because, well, it's fake. And also, they can "shed" lead. :( Incidentally, it turns out lights contain lead too, so while it is tempting, don't reuse your lights, and wear gloves and wash your hands after handling the lights.

I love Christmas trees. When I was growing up, it was always such a special thing...my mom had a special wax moon ornament she'd purchased while on vacation in Germany. It was very fragile, and I was always so excited to put it up on the tree. When we were younger, we always got our tree at a particular tree lot--the same one my mother had visited as a child. It went out of business :( but by then we decided to cut it down on our property. One year we got such a big tree, it reached the tippy top of our high, vaulted living room ceiling, so it was basically a tree 2 stories high :). We had to tie it to the staircase LOL. Decorating the tree meant cookies and mom breaking out her special vinyl Christmas records...ah, Sandi Patti, how high your voice is...and my MOST favorite thing was to lie underneath the tree, looking up through the branches at the lights. I especially loved to fall asleep under it. And in a big family, where everyone gets everyone else gifts (well...usually makes) you can imagine the huge pile of gifts under the tree Christmas morning. That was always a fun sight ;). I still get a thrill out of that...and usually arrange our presents under the tree to look as big as possible, even if there's only a few things under it ;).

I've heard all manner of explanations for Christmas trees, ranging from pagan to specifically Christmas to Christian. Which came first, the pagan traditions or the Christian ones? Beats me, but I do know who celebrated trees first, and I do know who used them in a great many pivotal moments of history. I imagine you can guess who I'm thinking of ;). After all, God created evergreens. And I enjoy them. Every year our pastor does a sermon on Christmas and usually includes his research on Christmas trees, as he (and I) find them to be incredibly symbolic. The tree itself, the wood, represents the cross, but the fact that it is a living, green tree represents the finished work of the cross--everlasting life. :) Plus the tree is like an arrow, pointing heavenward. The cross, the hope of everlasting life, all of it ultimately points to Jesus. :) Thus, Christmas trees are awesome. See? Logical.

I wish I had the notes from the sermon, but according to my pastor's research two of the more likely Christmas tree origins are religion-friendly, so that's good. One involves a Christian monk in a very early century walking through a forest and coming upon some...not Christian guys. I can't remember the story exactly, but basically he punched a tree and it split, which was a miracle and a sign to the men, and then he went on to use the three points of the evergreen to explain the gospel. The other one involves Martin Luther, and him liking the way the moonlight filtered through the trees and attempting to recreated that on a tree indoors with candles.

It just doesn't "feel" like Christmas to me without the tree. And once it's up, it feels like the season has really arrived. I love staring at my tree! I know I've mentioned this before, but one of the reasons I love my tree is because it represents love to me. Christ's love, and Christ's love extended through family and friends. Every year for our anniversary we get an ornament to commemorate the occasion (this year we got the gold and red-jeweled stars you'll see at the top and a ferry--we took a ferry to get to our destination). We generally make ornaments as a family as well, and I've received special ornaments over the years from beloved friends and family (like the two ornaments my dear sister made me out of copper...she's a jewelry/metalsmith and she made me Wilbur and Roxie, who are my family's beloved dachshunds...or the girl with two little girls caroling in front of a gingerbread house, given to me by the girls I nannied for over a 7 year period) or from special events or periods in my life (like the porcelain tea set ornaments I bought while working at a fabric store, and the nutcracker ornament I received for performing in The Nutcracker Ballet way back when...). In fact, this year I decided to photograph all my ornaments so I can catalogue them and not worry about forgetting which year we bought what. :)

We WERE planning to cut our own this year, but time and circumstance didn't permit. So I called around and found a reasonably-priced tree farm that brings trees in fresh every day. And it certainly is a fresh tree! :) In fact, it's the nicest, prettiest, fullest, freshest and most uniform tree we've ever had. I <3 it muchly. The girls and I had a lot of fun decorating it. Some of the branches are a little more decorated than others ;) but I think our tree is lovelier than ever! And it's not even just the kid's fault...Ginger is still very curious about all the ornaments, and loves to steal them and play with them, so I put all the breakable ones up high ;) The results?



You can see our stockings hung up too :)


I spruced up the "wall" there with a ribbon and a thrown-together wreath made out of extra Christmas tree branches (we had to cut a few off the bottom)


Isn't it cute?


If you look carefully, you can see one of the dachshund ornament on the top right branch


This is the view from the kitchen :)