I took down the Christmas tree yesterday. It is a nostalgic event for me. I like to do it at night, with the tree lit for the last time. I admire each ornament as I put it back into its little box or in its wrappings and I think of where we got it, or who bought it for us, and when. I feel closer to my relatives, who are a little too far away for my liking, and to our pasts together and the love that binds us.
My husband threw the naked tree near the end of the driveway to await Monday’s trash pickup. Not long ago it had been a beautiful living thing thirsting for water, spilling its cedar scent, delighting us with soft branches hiding tiny glowing lights that gave shape and shimmer to precious ornaments nestled in dark enclaves. Now it joined other stripped trees dumped along the roadside, abandoned as they faded and turned brittle and became old and out-of-season. It gives me a sense of sadness to see these once glorious symbols of joy and excitement now discarded.
The magic of the holidays has left us, but hopefully we have felt renewed and restored by the happiness and the meaning behind the celebrations. Christmas is about love. “And love is not a seasonal thing.”*
Have a blessed new year!
*from Pastor Sue Mitch
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