OH CHRISTMAS TREE

“Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas unless…”
If my husband had to finish that sentence it would be: Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas unless we had a Christmas tree. So on December 9th, off we snow-shoed into the bush to find a beauty. It was another grey day and the crust on the snow made the trekking slow, but we had a song in our hearts and on our lips and were excited about our prospects.

Alan led me in one direction where he thought there was a stand, then I led him in another where I was hopeful of finding something perfect, but in the end all we could see were scraggly Charlie Brown trees. He’d rather have nothing at all than one of those, so we looped back home.
The next morning, he just wasn’t happy so asked if I would mind going to town with him to buy one. This normally sounds like such a small request, and in fact, normally he could have gone on his own. We, on the other hand, living 2 km past where the road ends, weren’t used to normal, and with achilles tendonitis in my right foot, a return trip to town was an effort for me. But with the chance to bring joy to my beloved, I strapped the snowshoes and a smile back on and hiked out the roller coaster trail to the car with him.

After first taking care of some errands and stopping for a slice, we went shopping for the tree. Most were perfect for what we normally looked for, but with the kids not visiting and the early snowfall, this year wasn’t normal either. After moving some of the big boys around, we found the ideal spruce in the very back against the wall. Not only was this tree symmetrical and sized to fit in our vehicle it was also possible to carry.

Back to the trail, on with the snowshoes, and off we went back home. Alan dragged the tree the first 500 metres over the frozen lake, and then the fun began. As an analyzer, I love to figure things out, so with Alan hanging on to the heavier trunk, I tried putting a rope around the top, but that was just too awkward. Then I had an image of two hunters walking, and between them was a dead animal hanging from a pole. So, I went off trail as soon as I found a long, sturdy, dead branch and convinced Alan we should try it. He was sceptical at first but then conceded it did help. Forty-five minutes later, and after taking a ceremonial picture of our prize, we had the tree standing up outside and relaxing into shape.

As darkness descended, Alan brought it in and started putting the lights on: a sacred, age-old tradition of his. Then with eggnog in hand, I finished it off with tinsel, candy canes and red bows.
I must admit, the whole atmosphere of our house had been transformed by the glorious presence of that glittering tree. Even though there were no gifts underneath, it had a majesty about it akin to all things nurtured and cherished. It was truly uplifting.

As I stood there admiring our creation, I felt refreshed! It was like something inside of me had been aroused from hibernation, and I realized what I loved about a Christmas tree was how sensuous it was. There was the prickliness of its needles, the clean spruce fragrance, the lights sparkling on the tinsel, the peppermint candy canes ripe for the picking, the feelings of belonging and continuity, and the remembered sounds of music and laughter.

Perhaps this was why Christmastime was so exhilarating for many; like the tree, our senses were lit up and life took on a whole new, vibrant dimension. It’s almost as if by exciting and uniting all the senses, the feelings of kindness and charity were activated. What a blissful way to live…all year long.

Which reminds me, if you were to ask me to finish that first sentence, it would be: Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas unless I wished that the joy of the season carried through and became the normal way of being all year long.
May all our dreams come true.

Happy Holidays everyone!