A Christmas Prayer

Over the past twenty-five years, since the boys left home, Bob and I have come to a peaceful agreement about how we dothe Christmas tree.  We go together in the truck to Home Depot (Bob’s favorite store) where we choose without much difficulty a noble fir tree.  We bring it home and Bob prepares it to go into the Christmas tree stand.  That task usually involves cutting off some branches and sawing off the bottom of the trunk with his chain saw. This year Bob made a block with a hole in it to fit into the deep holder we have because I didn’t want any branches cut off the rather small compact tree we chose.  Then tree is brought into the house, placed in the stand and Bob goes off to his workshop, his part done.  Now my work begins, I’m left to decorate it by myself.  I’ve come to enjoy this quiet time: it’s an act of remembering all family’s our many Christmases together and a time of creativity.  For the past three years I’ve decorated the tree with a theme using homemade decorations.  But this  year I went back to the treasure trove of ornaments we have from many Christmases together.   First, I put the star on the top and looped tiny white lights all over the tree. Then I laid all the decorations out.  First, I noticed a box labeled stars and thought, “yes, Christmas is about light.”  It comes right after the winter solstice, so the days are beginning to get longer.  It’s also about the light because the Christ child is coming into the world.   If Christmas is to be more than tradition, it has to come to us.  We bring light into the world with intentional acts of kindness and generosity.  I see light in joyful faces as we gather together.  Let the stars bring light to my Christmas.   Then I found a box with angels in it.  Angels are close this time of year.  Maybe it is angels that inspire us to be generous and have a spirit of love toward our fellow beings..  I put all the angels on the little tree.  My task got harder then because the rest of the ornaments were not sorted by kind, but I was on a roll.  So I picked out the ornaments that were babies or children.  Christmas is about children, their joy.  One ornament is a tiny baby in a half a walnut shell  I remember buying when I was expecting our first born.  I found nature ornaments including many birds.  For me, birds are like Spirit, often hidden in the branches, but there and calling to us.  Birds are beautiful and free and infinitely varied in their kind.  I put many birds on the tree, red cardinals, even though there aren’t any cardinals in California, a cedar wax-wing, a feathered owl, a blue bird (I saw one the other day out the window at the gym).  Last but not least, I put on all the many hearts I had.  In Denmark, they put hearts all over the Christmas tree, hearts made of woven paper, made of straw and of wood.  For me, hearts symbolize love and love is what Christmas is all about—God’s love for us, our love for family and friends and maybe even for our all our fellow humans here on Earth with us.  There is a gentle sense of love that comes over us in the quiet moments of this season like I was experiencing decorating the tree.  Finally I put Scandinavian flags festooned all over the tree all from our time in Denmark.  It’s a tradition for us.  Tradition is important too.  We keep alive in our hearts Christmases past. The tree wasn’t done, it needed one more thing:  candy canes, sweet and pepperminty hung tall over the tree because Christmas is the sweetest time of year.  I looked at that tree and was pleased.  When I thought about this time I recognized it was all a prayer, a prayer for Chrismas.  I realize I want light, angels, love, Nature, family and friends and sweetness in my life.  Let Christmas come.  The Tree is ready.