A Tree of Blessings
When our four were small we quickly established traditions around our Christmas tree. Every year my husband Steve with our children who were old enough would leave for the nearest tree farm to choose the tree that would be the focal point at our house in December. I would listen to Christmas music as I did some Christmas baking..The children would return often with ruddy cheeks and icy fingers and filled with excitement after their mission now accomplished. All 4 grandparents were alive and there were ornaments that reminded us of them. Over the years ornate and store bought, as well as plain and home made ornaments were added to the collection. Our 2 moms loved birds and so we have some bird ornaments. I was attracted to sheep and so every time I found a sheep ornament I considered adding it to our collection.
As the children entered their teen years many things crowded out the traditions of their youth. The job of hanging the ornaments gradually became more and more my job. Each year it didn't take me long to realize this was more than decorating a tree. This was noting time passing and blessings enjoyed. Steve's and my parents are all gone. When Steve's parents were still with us we had taken a picture of the 4 of our children with their grandparents at the airport before they left us for their trip home. Our daughter Laura made a frame for the picture and attached a hook so that would hang from our tree. My mother had hand made personalized ornaments for the children. One ornament she made bore the year 1978, the year of Laura's birth and the year she flew into our lives. Another ornament is a picture of our two oldest before chapter 2 of our family story was written.
The 2015 edition of tree trimming didn't seem like it would be much different. Steve put up the tree including the lights. He also hung the Christmas stockings,and carefully laid out the nativity set from his youth. I was left with the tree and the promise of my 4 year old grandson's help the next morning. I placed a few ornaments towards the top and waited for morning. At 7:30am, his usual time Henry came out of his room. Today he was ready to work. I sorted the ornaments and handed them one at a time as he did his pre-breakfast duty with great delight.
I reached for an ornament given to me by my brother and his wife. This one was a picture of my parents in their youth. They were sitting on a bench on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Md. My dad was in a suit complete with tie and striped socks. My mom was in a dress and heels. Mom was shielding her face from the glare of the sun and Dad was holding out Fishers' popcorn to the photographer. I had seen this picture before but suddenly I was aware of so much. This scene would be so foreign compared to the extreme casualness you see on the boardwalk today. I wondered what their young love had been like. I was acutely aware of the passage of time and I wondered what markers Steve and I would leave behind.
My eyes returned to the partially clothed tree and my grandson Henry as he pondered the different hooks on the ornaments and the different places to put them. I wondered if others feel glad and sad as they decorate their tree. Then I remembered 2 other trees. Adam and Eve stood by a tree as they ate the forbidden fruit. It is hard to imagine a sadder moment than that. That moment led to that glad moment of hope when God promised them the coming of the Messiah and the defeat of Satan. The second was made out of a tree. The cross on which Christ died represents one of the saddest moments in human history. From the cross to the empty tomb took people from the depth of despair to the heights of joy. Perhaps my sad /glad approach to trimming the tree is a picture of a normal approach to all of life. Keeping the right balance is so important. With God's help the sadness will not overwhelm us as we remember the words of Octavius Winslow,a Baptist pastor from the 19th century. The child of God is, from necessity a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought - of, untold,and endless blessedness - with such a God such a savior and such a hope, is he not, ought he not to be a joyful man?
As the children entered their teen years many things crowded out the traditions of their youth. The job of hanging the ornaments gradually became more and more my job. Each year it didn't take me long to realize this was more than decorating a tree. This was noting time passing and blessings enjoyed. Steve's and my parents are all gone. When Steve's parents were still with us we had taken a picture of the 4 of our children with their grandparents at the airport before they left us for their trip home. Our daughter Laura made a frame for the picture and attached a hook so that would hang from our tree. My mother had hand made personalized ornaments for the children. One ornament she made bore the year 1978, the year of Laura's birth and the year she flew into our lives. Another ornament is a picture of our two oldest before chapter 2 of our family story was written.
The 2015 edition of tree trimming didn't seem like it would be much different. Steve put up the tree including the lights. He also hung the Christmas stockings,and carefully laid out the nativity set from his youth. I was left with the tree and the promise of my 4 year old grandson's help the next morning. I placed a few ornaments towards the top and waited for morning. At 7:30am, his usual time Henry came out of his room. Today he was ready to work. I sorted the ornaments and handed them one at a time as he did his pre-breakfast duty with great delight.
I reached for an ornament given to me by my brother and his wife. This one was a picture of my parents in their youth. They were sitting on a bench on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Md. My dad was in a suit complete with tie and striped socks. My mom was in a dress and heels. Mom was shielding her face from the glare of the sun and Dad was holding out Fishers' popcorn to the photographer. I had seen this picture before but suddenly I was aware of so much. This scene would be so foreign compared to the extreme casualness you see on the boardwalk today. I wondered what their young love had been like. I was acutely aware of the passage of time and I wondered what markers Steve and I would leave behind.
My eyes returned to the partially clothed tree and my grandson Henry as he pondered the different hooks on the ornaments and the different places to put them. I wondered if others feel glad and sad as they decorate their tree. Then I remembered 2 other trees. Adam and Eve stood by a tree as they ate the forbidden fruit. It is hard to imagine a sadder moment than that. That moment led to that glad moment of hope when God promised them the coming of the Messiah and the defeat of Satan. The second was made out of a tree. The cross on which Christ died represents one of the saddest moments in human history. From the cross to the empty tomb took people from the depth of despair to the heights of joy. Perhaps my sad /glad approach to trimming the tree is a picture of a normal approach to all of life. Keeping the right balance is so important. With God's help the sadness will not overwhelm us as we remember the words of Octavius Winslow,a Baptist pastor from the 19th century. The child of God is, from necessity a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought - of, untold,and endless blessedness - with such a God such a savior and such a hope, is he not, ought he not to be a joyful man?
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