To Tree or Not to Tree by Deena McDaniel Positively Beautiful Blog Can you remember the very first Christmas tree you put up after you went out on your own? Decorations meager lights simple, and a star made of tin foil. I remember. Popcorn strung together with tiny red cranberries decorated my first tree. The very first Christmas tree was with my wonderful boyfriend Mickey. (Then on December 30th he was my husband…eloping was easy!) Each year I’d make sure to wait for the 50%off sale of Christmas ornaments and get a cherished new treasure for the following year. Then as the children were born a new one for them and me, child after child Christmas after Christmas my tree is a banquet of memories. That very first tree Mickey brought up to my apartment. “I went out and cut one.” He laughed. The lot next to the apartment complex was an empty lot with scrub trees, but beautiful in his hand. Eggnog and popcorn stringing the Christmas classics filled the air. It was my very favorite tree. A few years on the farm in Missouri and life gets in the way, no tree. Those years didn’t last long but are memorable nevertheless only because my mom mailed me a Christmas wreath. *Side note, Mickey planted 40 twigs of trees to someday have a Christmas tree farm on our property. We moved away, but I wonder if those trees are still there. * Christmas isn’t about the tree, or is it? It’s all about another kind of tree. The tree in which the God of the Universe let grow into mighty glory knowing those branches would support his Son. The Son who would die on a tree, which was grown from a seed, which one day brought salvation to the world. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’”- Galatians 3:13 The origin of the Christmas tree isn’t biblically based. In the late 1800s, the Christmas tree was considered a pagan gestor. And the history of the Evergreen incorporated into our Christmas is a long-twisted series of stories. Research for yourself and come to your own conclusions. But to tree or not to tree is still the question. Perhaps we’re asking the wrong questions. Does having a Christmas tree in your house make it more holy? Does it make it more Christmassy? “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities . . . and with his wounds we are healed” -Isa. 53:5 We see the cradle to the cross in full. In this Advent season consider Jesus was born to die. Not simply die but die for you! How are we preparing our hearts as we prepare our house? I’m not against a Christmas tree. Mine is neon blue tinsel! Crazy like me, my fake tree sports more Christmas memories than it has branches. As I load it full of high dollar and homemade ornaments my heart soars with Christmas joy. I thank the Lord for the years of his faithfulness to my life. I’ve failed miserably many, many, times at being me, but he gently lifts my chin and says, “Your mine.” “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”- John 1:12 This past Thanksgiving, I had the honor of experiencing our daughter Rosey’s first Christmas tree. She and her husband Desmond put the joy of their marriage and the laughter into the sparkles of Christmas. “Mom we shopped together and selected all the things but forgot an angel!” Rosey continued, “so we grabbed Garfield for the top.” A silly cat perches on the top for the beautiful twinkles to cast upon.
Decorations delight. Our hearts appreciate it. Not in the sparkles of the season, rather “Come let us adore Him!” rings out in choirs. We have seen a great Light. It is a tiny helpless baby, born to die for me. Greater is no love than to give your life for another. He has given his life for our sins. Put up a tree or not. Put a cat on the top or a tinfoil star, or not. Put Christ center in your celebrations always. Prepare your heart this Advent season. Take a quiet moment away from everyone to thank God for his Son. And in those moments reflect on His faithfulness. It’s okay to be snuggled next to your Christmas tree with delicious cocoa feeling His love. But if there’s a real cat on the top of your tree watch out!

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