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Dec 01, 2023 18:00pm

O Christmas Tree

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One of our very favorite Christmas traditions is when we pile up in the minivan and drive 40 minutes South to the nearest Christmas tree farm. Growing up, we did not have a real tree at my house, because they made my poor mama’s and brother’s allergies hit high alert. So, this was a tradition my husband and I chose to embrace from our first Christmas together. We found a farm that has free hot cocoa and peppermints, homemade fudge for sale, live music playing near a playground, pig races on the hour, and a petting zoo.

When we decide we are ready to set out on the hunt for the perfect tree, they hand us a saw, and we actually get to cut the tree down ourselves. After this feat has been accomplished, we await the tractor pulling a trailer lined with hay bales to make its rounds and pick us up, along with our family tree. We ride back, with pride, to pay for our tannenbaum and let a “professional” tie it onto the top of our minivan while we sip cocoa and browse the gift shop. I guess they trust us to use a saw, but they don’t want to risk our tree flying off of our roof and endangering any non-tree-farm-customers on our trek home.

As our family has grown, picking out the tree that we felt was “just right” has been a fun debate among each family member, with each person valuing something different, and even changing over the years. Some want a really soft tree; some think the taller the better; some would choose the fattest one. My personal priority is usually to find the area that has the best priced trees and guide the kids to pick the one in that section that meets their checklist best. One quality we all usually agree upon is that the tree cannot be perfect. It MUST have a unique quality that makes it stand out. I always wrap up the final decision with a declaration that we found the one that is perfectly imperfect. Memories are made. Pictures are taken. It’s a beautiful thing.

As the older kids entered teenage years, they seemed to find less joy in the search for the “perfectly imperfect” tree, but we dragged them along anyway for tradition’s sake.

I decided I wanted to find a deeper reason to care about our tree. I’m not certain it will persuade the older ones to care more or enjoy the search, but maybe…just maybe…it could win them over, or at least leave them with more meaningful memories to pass on to their own kids one day.

With a little research, I found symbolism in using an evergreen tree to represent the eternal presence of our Lord, as the evergreen trees stay green year round. The lights we typically don around the tree could symbolize how we should live our lives like Jesus and be a light in a dark world…or possibly be a reflection of how Jesus (He who is Light) willingly chose to leave perfection to live out a life of obedience in human form in order to become the sacrifice necessary to pay for our sins.

“He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭21‬ ‭AMP‬‬

I also read that the process of picking a tree to cut down and then resurrecting it once it was home is a picture of Jesus’ obedience, even to the point of death on a tree on Calvary for us, and His resurrection 3 days later.

These ideas all sound like beautiful enough symbols to give the tree picking process priority in my mind.

Whether we see the tree as a symbol of God’s omnipresence, a reflection of the sacrifice made to allow us to live in relationship with God, or a reminder to live our lives with the prime focus being to be a light in a dark world that points to the gospel, I pray we are able to enjoy this Christmas tradition with a new appreciation this year and years to come.

Let’s find ways to point our hearts and minds, and those in our families, toward Jesus throughout Christmas and every day. When everything around us makes Christmas feel like an overwhelmingly consumeristic time, let’s do all we can to redeem the season and focus on the real reason for the season.