Twelve Traditions of Christmas - Part 2

THE REAL THING.  It's gotta be a real tree and that's final.  Tradition dictates that we go out the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving and cut one down ourselves, but I will admit (shhh...don't tell our kids) that years ago our standards weren't nearly so finicky and we were just as happy to get one off a tree lot that had already received the short, sharp shock at the hands of someone else.  This year Thanksgiving came so early that we found we just weren't in the mood (most of us anyway), so we waited a week.  See?  We're not completely inflexible!  Since we moved to our current location, we go to a place called "Twiehof's" and it gives me immense pleasure to be able to say that we get our Christmas Twee at Twiehof's.

 Lately we've been getting Scotch pines, but over the years we've sampled all kinds of evergreens, once even shelling out the big bucks for a Fraser Fir, the Cadillac of fir trees.  The Scotch pine is pleasingly soft, although its long needles sometimes make it harder to hang ornaments.  The aroma of a freshly cut evergreen fills the room such that you find yourself taking deeper breaths just to fully imbibe it.

 I've read that the tradition of a Christmas tree comes down to us from Germany, some sort of pagan winter solstice thing.  We are reclaiming it for Christ.  When we sit in a darkened room lit only by the lights of our tree, it is a reminder that Christ brought His light into the darkness.  We are reclaiming it for Christ, who gave His life to bring us that light, just as the tree gives its life.  We are reclaiming it for Christ, who gives us life everlasting, who makes us "evergreen."