Writing Wednesday is a place for me to write whatever I want to write.
Pic found HERE
So. You have seen A Charlie Brown Christmas. If you haven’t, please go take the next thirty minutes and watch it. You will not be disappointed.
In the short animated flick, Charlie picks a tiny scraggly tree. This choice is a little rebellion of all the commercialization of Christmas.
I’m not sure if my mom was making the same protest. I think I remember her saying a few times that she felt sorry for the trees that didn’t get picked(we usually cut down our own tree at a cut-your-own-tree place).
This tree isn’t as spacious as others my mom picked through the years. She explained to us that she liked how the space allowed for more room for her ornaments. True, these trees made for lots of room, as evidenced by the next picture.
Look at all the room for all those ornaments. In fact, if the tree could bear the weight, you could put small children or small animals as ornaments in that tree.
Some may gawk at these silly little trees, but they were a family inside joke. We would often pick on my mom about them and carry on about our silly “Charlie Brown” trees. To be honest, it wasn’t ever the decorations that made christmas for me. I don’t remember a whole lot of those ornaments, but I do remember the time we spent around the trunk of those trees and the time we spent together going and picking them out. I remember how we would wake up early and my parents wouldn't let us go into the living room until a certain time. I remember how we would first go into the hallway where the stockings were hung on the stairway edge and discover our first surprises. Funny thing, I don’t remember any of the trinkets except the fact that there was always some sort of yummy chocolate in those stockings. I remember how my family always would hide my last present, the big one, the one I was waiting for, the only one I really asked for and by the time they showed it to me, I had given up hope to get it. Funnier yet, I don’t remember many of those big presents either.
You see, Christmas isn’t about how perfectly you decorate, it isn’t about the presents you receive, and it certainly isn’t about a perfect tree. Christmas is about memories, it’s about traditions and it is most certainly about spending time with loved ones.
May we look past all the decor and the pressures to have a perfect holiday and just take in all the magic that is Christmas.
I may or may not have a little bit of my mom’s taste in trees, by the way.
I’ve been calling our tree the “Ghetto Tree” this year. It is the top of a blue spruce Reuben cut down in our front yard. I was mildly joking when I said we should use its top for our Christmas tree this year. Reub thinks it is great and we don’t need to go buy a tree as long as the needles don’t fall out.
Truth is I actually do love it, even if it curves far away from the wall. I love that it reflects this cool gray color from the blue needles. I love that it was once a part of our yard. I love that it was free and that we made most of the decorations on it. I love that it sits in my home, where we now are creating traditions for our own children. I love that the magic of Christmas is reliveable as I watch my kids being excited.
May we all become children again(I’m the littlest one on Santa’s lap). Search for the light. Search for the magic. Search for peace, joy and comfort. That is the true message of the season. Find the reason for the season!
