Catching the Christmas Spirit

Memories of Christmas Past haunt my musings lately as we launch ourselves into the Christmas season. One of my favorite memories is of me, my sister and my dad going out into woods near our house and finding a little Christmas tree. My dad would cut it down and we would all help (as much as a 6 year old and a 4 year old can help) to drag it back to the house. We would set it up on a table (we had a dog and a cat) and decorate it with colored lights, decorations and tinsel.

After we moved to El Paso, our Christmases changed. There was no longer the white Christmas to look forward to and we began putting up a plastic tree at Christmas time.

It was many years before we had an opportunity to get a live Christmas tree again. When we bought our first home in Spring Valley, CA (just outside of San Diego) we decided that we would get the biggest, live Christmas tree we could find. It was 10 feet tall when we got it set up and I decorated it with poinsettias, white lights, gold ribbon and loads of ornaments we’d bought at Sam’s Club. Ralph even had a Christmas Train that we’d put under (or even IN) the tree.

It was even better when we moved to Maine. We’d all pile in the van and head off to the Christmas Tree Farm (one of several near our home) and walk around till we found one that was taller than Dad. He would cut it down and the owner of the farm would wrap it in net and help us tie it onto the top of our van so we could get it home. We’d set it up in the big, bay, picture window of the living room next to the corn stove so it could be seen from the street. Our Victorian Christmas town would also go into the window next to the tree. It was full of lights, detail and a working model train. Our window was one of the prettiest in the neighborhood. I remember one Christmas we had 4 decorated trees throughout the house.

This year, however, was unique. I don’t think that there is a Christmas Tree Farm anywhere within 200 miles and if we wanted a live tree we would have to drive to New Mexico. We don’t have a bay window to set it in and not enough room to get out our Holiday Town. I was beginning to get depressed! How can we get into the Christmas spirit without a tree!

I cried on Ralph’s shoulder one night and he gave me a few ideas. We decided to get out the decorations and see what we could do about decorating the house.

The next day the girls and I went to the Dollar General store in town. It is the most disorganized, cluttered store I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, it’s all we have here unless I want to go to El Paso. We looked at their selection of fake trees. Ralph met us there during a break in his busy schedule and we picked out a tree: a white, 3’, plastic thing. At least it would fit in one of the windows.

It took us 2 days to figure out what to do with it, but once we got out the ornaments and started hanging them on, it started feeling like Christmas. I realized suddenly that it was not the tree that was making the difference, but the memories. The ornaments we’d made each year had great stories attached and the girls were excited about making new ones this year.

Mikayla pulled out the Nativity and set it up on a table next to the little tree and decorated it with white lights. We couldn’t find the stable, so we’ve just set up the figurines so that they can be seen from outside. Now, when we drive into our driveway, we see a little white tree in one window and the Nativity in the other. It’s pretty.

After everything had been cleaned up and the boxes of unused ornaments were put away, we talked together about what other things we could do this year. We made plans for a Christmas Club, a Christmas Newsletter, a Christmas Angel (who gives gifts secretly), and some Christmas gifts for Aaron in Korea.

Our first Christmas Club meeting was this Saturday. The girls and I invited some friends and we made chocolate chip cookies, drank tea and invented some new ornaments for this year’s tree. It was an all day affair and we had such fun.

The Christmas Spirit is here in our home even though we don’t have a big, live tree and lots of decorations. We have each other and hearts full of the joy of giving. Christ would be pleased. His birth wasn’t about the decorations, but about family and making us a part of His. This year we’ve been forced to put away the distractions of the decorations and focus on the reason for the season. I know it’s going to be one of the best Christmases we’ve had.

Rom 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

2Co 9:15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

May we be filled with hearts of giving, remembering the greatest gift of all: Our Lord Jesus Christ.