O Smelly Christmas Tree

Every year my husband and I say we are throwing out the artificial tree at the end of the year. It has been with us longer than our children. The not-so-evergreen is dusty in looks and smell, branches are missing and is an all-together pain in the neck to put together. Luckily, last year we packed it away in its tree bag and put it in the garage. It’s been almost six month now since we have brought in the amount of money we need to live on. I left the public schools to Home School and the housing market dropped terribly. We thought it would be easier for him to find another job to supplement, but it’s been hard. But we’ve trusted God and wait on Him, because we feel He’s called us to this place.

So tonight Jeff and I pulled in the Christmas tree bag. We opened the windows to get rid of the musty smell as we started assembling it. And then the elves came to help. The oldest,6 years, is very helpful. The youngest, 3 years, is eager. Everyone had a job and with only half a dozen missing branches and needles all over the floor, the tree made it up.

I sighed as I dug for the ornaments, as it’s hard to think about Christmas when the bills need to be paid. How can we justify presents when we can hardly pay for food we do need? I was thinking how there would not be many presents underneath it this year, even if the job comes tomorrow. There’s still insurance to pay and loans to pay off. We just can’t afford Christmas this year, I thought to myself.

The children eagerly opened the boxes of ornaments and started putting them on. As my son hung the first ornament, he said words that melted my heart.

“You know the best thing about decorating the tree? It’s remembering all the people that gave you the ornaments and where they came from.”

I smiled, for I remember telling him that the past several years. Every ornament has a story, whom it’s from or what trip we got it on. It’s the memories on the tree, not the presents under it, which make the difference.

As I turned on the Christmas music I heard Rebecca yell, “There’s a Tigger one!” Thirty seconds later she called “Another Tigger one!” I laughed, remembering the year every friend gave me a Tigger ornament because they knew he was my favorite. Amazingly enough, they were all different!

Noah told Becca the stories he remembered, I told the stories he forgot and Becca made up some of her own (which she is really good at). After about a half hour the boxes were empty and the branches were bending at the weight of all the ornaments. My heart was full of reasons to love Christmas and I was thankful for all the blessing in our lives. God gave us the best gift ever in His Son, Jesus Christ. A gift money could never buy.

Maybe we’ll start a new tradition this year…no presents beneath the tree. I know our family will give us and send us presents, but I really don’t want that to be the focus for the whole month. Our tree can be a beautiful reminder every day in December of the good times, good friends and fun trips we have had. After all, it’s the memories that remind us of others love, not the presents they give.

I think I’m starting to like our little tree. The holes are filled in nicely with ornaments and it really doesn’t smell so bad…