Christmas, Comin At Ya!
Tonight on the news one of the items was about the fact that Christmas tree sales are down. Hey folks, it's still November.I can feel it coming at me like a runaway train. One week it's too early to put up decorations and before ya know it you are cutting it too close.
So, we are having a dilemma here. We NEVER EVER put up a fake tree. I was raised by a Christmas fanatic. My Dad had his problems but he did Christmas right. Back in the 50's when I was a little girl, he took me along to pick out the tree. It was more than that. It was training. He always got 2 trees. One big one and one little not so good tree. The little tree was stripped of its branches and some were used to decorate the mantle and the others were drilled into the big tree to make it fuller and fill in any blank spots. My first husband came from a very poor family and they didn't always have a tree. My husband Joe came from a JW family and never even had Christmas. Neither one of them was qualified to choose a tree so it has always been my job. Not that they just let me have that job. No, they both at one time tried to impose a sub standard tree on our kids but luckly it's never bothered me to fight in front of the tree guys. I don't care if Joe picks the tree as long as it meets the requirements. I think he sorta picked the tree last year. This year after putting the new roof on our house we haven't much money. Joes boss gave him a very nice "fake" tree and he was thinking that we could save money by using it instead of forking out major bucks for the real thing. Now on this we agree. I want to save that money. It's a nice tree,a big tree. But it aint real! I mentioned it to the kids,the grown ones who have their own homes, they will have their own trees(real ones)and even so they all had a fit. You know what they say,"there's no place like home for the holidays". Home is Moms house. Maybe I just figured out what I need to do. Christmas isn't about presents(okay,a little) it's about well, first it's about Jesus. It's about traditions and all the things that we do with our family in the weeks leading up to the big day.(Seems I missed alot of "what it's about". I re-read this and I am ashamed of me.) I hang cards up that my Grandma sent to me and the kids. She's been gone for many yrs now. In fact lots of the cards I hang are from family and dear friends that have passed on. I love to see the cards each year and think of them. So, I guess I will be spending a little less on gifts this year and get out there for our annual tree fight. Ahh yes, tis the season!
So, we are having a dilemma here. We NEVER EVER put up a fake tree. I was raised by a Christmas fanatic. My Dad had his problems but he did Christmas right. Back in the 50's when I was a little girl, he took me along to pick out the tree. It was more than that. It was training. He always got 2 trees. One big one and one little not so good tree. The little tree was stripped of its branches and some were used to decorate the mantle and the others were drilled into the big tree to make it fuller and fill in any blank spots. My first husband came from a very poor family and they didn't always have a tree. My husband Joe came from a JW family and never even had Christmas. Neither one of them was qualified to choose a tree so it has always been my job. Not that they just let me have that job. No, they both at one time tried to impose a sub standard tree on our kids but luckly it's never bothered me to fight in front of the tree guys. I don't care if Joe picks the tree as long as it meets the requirements. I think he sorta picked the tree last year. This year after putting the new roof on our house we haven't much money. Joes boss gave him a very nice "fake" tree and he was thinking that we could save money by using it instead of forking out major bucks for the real thing. Now on this we agree. I want to save that money. It's a nice tree,a big tree. But it aint real! I mentioned it to the kids,the grown ones who have their own homes, they will have their own trees(real ones)and even so they all had a fit. You know what they say,"there's no place like home for the holidays". Home is Moms house. Maybe I just figured out what I need to do. Christmas isn't about presents(okay,a little) it's about well, first it's about Jesus. It's about traditions and all the things that we do with our family in the weeks leading up to the big day.(Seems I missed alot of "what it's about". I re-read this and I am ashamed of me.) I hang cards up that my Grandma sent to me and the kids. She's been gone for many yrs now. In fact lots of the cards I hang are from family and dear friends that have passed on. I love to see the cards each year and think of them. So, I guess I will be spending a little less on gifts this year and get out there for our annual tree fight. Ahh yes, tis the season!
posted by debi | 10:28 PM
1 Comments:
Excuse my ignorance, but what is a JW family?
For the last two years, and this year, Willi and I had/have a real tree. We had a fake tree for the first few, but when we pulled up all of the carpet it was much easier to deal with a real tree. Last year, when we were laying tile, we didn't get a tree until days before Christmas. Thank heavens that project is over. As a kid I remember having one of those silver trees with the revolving light. Remember those? I also have fond memories of my dad cutting a tree and letting it "fall" in the garage before he brought it in the house. My mom always wanted a perfect tree. I look for one now with "character" rather than perfection.
I wanted to tell you that I think you had the right idea about Christmas. For me at least, Christmas is not so much about Jesus. Heck, we really don't know when his birthday was anyway. For me it is about Jesus only in that we should try to follow his example in how we deal with our loved ones and those whose life we can affect in a positive way. Family and traditions are good things and this holiday gives us a chance to work on both! I don't think Jesus would care much for what we have turned Christmas into. Wow. Where did that come from?
I would really like to skip the gifts altogether, but that would take some convincing and it's something to work toward for next year. You are right...tis the season!
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