Christmas Trees

Regular readers of my blog would know how much I love Christmas. Last year I shared the story about why James and I have two Christmas trees, if you missed it you can read it here: The Tale of Two Trees… – Redeemed

One of our trees is a white tree that I decorate with colour co-ordinated baubles in my favourite colours of purple, blue, teal and pink. The other tree is a traditional green tree which is decorated with a lifetime of memories… they are both beautiful in their own way.

Neither tree is shop window perfectly decorated, I unfortunately don’t have that skill. But to me they are perfect because they are decorated with love and meaning. It usually takes me about a week to finish our trees… I do the ‘first draft’ and then sit back to see where the gaps are, how it looks in different light etc until I am happy with the final product!

Our white tree is a fun thing to do, and the second of our two trees. The other tree, the ‘main tree’ is more significant, because just about every ornament on this tree holds a memory….

It holds memories of my kid’s chubby little hands proudly bringing their macaroni ornaments home from school. Little hands that are now grown up hands with their own trees to decorate, but still those first ornaments (now in their third decade!) hang proudly on my tree.

It promises new memories as the next generation of grandbabies become old enough to appreciate and make their own decorations to hang on Nana and Pa’s tree.

It brings back memories of special people, no longer with us to celebrate Christmas. My ex mother-in-law, my children’s Grandma, would buy them a new ornament every year to go on the tree. This is our third year without her here on earth and those ornaments have become more poignant as I remember the bond that she and I continued to share despite the fact that her son and I had divorced, a reminder that life and relationships can go on even when circumstances are less than ideal.

There are decorations that allow us to reminisce over memories of special places visited and times with treasured friends, seasons of discovery, exploration and joyful adventures.

And, it carries hope in memories of new beginnings. One of our ornaments a love heart I bought for James at Christmas in the first year we had been dating. He had a very forlorn tree as almost everything he had owned had been taken from him and he’d had to start again from scratch. This ornament is a precious keepsake from when our love was new and a reminder that there is always hope for the future, even when everything around you might be falling apart.

As I sit back and admire my tree, I can’t help but be so very grateful.

Grateful for family and friends, at home and around the world. Grateful for cherished times had with those who are no longer with us. And grateful for second chances and new beginnings. But most of all, I am grateful to my God who loved us so much that He sent His son as a baby on that very first Christmas and to the son, Jesus who willingly came and gave His life that we would have eternal life… and that is something worth remembering and celebrating!

May your 2020 Christmas season be one of love and happy memories. I’d love to hear your Christmas traditions… please feel free to comment!