It’s that time of the yet year again when all of us Paul Bunyan wannabes troop off to our favorite Christmas tree farm with our pruning saws to cut down the perfect tree and haul it down the mountain like a fresh deer carcass. We pay the owner for the privilege of wandering through his property to cut down one of his trees, bind it in a fish net, and then tie it down to the roof of our car so it won’t get away, and that’s only the beginning.
If we drove around town any other time of the year with a ten foot tree wrapped in a fishnet strapped to the top of our car, people would think we were nuts, but not in December, at least in the first three weeks, anyway.
Next we haul the tree into our living room and “replant” it into a bucket of water, as if it were a bunch of freshly cut flowers in spring. But this is a tree, not a dozen roses. Next, we put about a thousand or more lights on it, hundreds of ornaments, popcorn, paper, tinsel and a host of other glittering things.
Next we plug in the lights. The tree takes on a whole new life, and the Christmas season is officially underway. The whole tree thing seems so weird when we parse it down to its individual parts, but when it’s done, and we see all the ornaments, the decorations and of course, the star on top, reflect the sparkle of the lights, we begin to understand the beauty of Christmas.
But deeper than that, is the real beauty that so many of us appreciate, the birth of Jesus, savior of the world. Regardless of what your own personal faith may be, it was an event that is recognized and celebrated throughout so much of the world at this time of year. We trust you will sit back and appreciate Christmas for what it represents as you take in the beauty of the tree in your home over the next few weeks.
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