Saturday, December 17, 2011

oh designer Christmas tree

oh Christmas tree...
how I love your branches...
your branches filled with memories and fun...
branches filled with perfectly-imperfect creations and ornaments created and chosen by our children
Norman, our Christmas tree this year

Christmas is about family
about children
and memories
and warm fuzzy feelings
and joy, love, peace...
and a perfect babe born in a stable...

my biggest Christmas pet peeve is the need to have the perfect Christmas
the perfect house lights
     don't get me wrong...I LOVE house lights
the perfect door wreath
     I love me a pretty wreath...but it doesn't have to be $75
the perfect plate of goodies to deliver to the neighbor
     let the kids help with the goodies, 
the perfect family Christmas photo/card
     I love a great Christmas card, but does it represent YOUR family
and the worst of all...
the designer Christmas tree...
you know the one...
the house...
the family...
that has the designer tree...
the tree that is Perfect...
not an ornament out of place,
not a light or twinkle not where it's supposed to be...
and not one perfectly imperfect handmade kids ornament on it...
boy child's penguin-circa 2009

the families with these perfect trees talk about how 'special' the kids are because they get their own tree...
in their room...
with THEIR ornaments on it...
girl child's kindergarten present to us, 2006

I've never talked to any of these kids,
     not sure how they turn out as adults,
but I can't imagine growing up in a house where the macaroni wreath with my toothless 1st grade smile ornament wasn't 'allowed' to hang on my mom's perfect tree...where the special weird snowman ornament 'Uncle Randy' gave me had to hang on a different tree out of sight from the perfect tree in the living room....

How has the beauty of Christmas gone from the perfection of a babe born in a barn to a what-ever-the-color/theme-of-the-season-is-perfect-kid-free Christmas tree?

I find it ironic and sad that our Savior was also not good enough to be the main attraction on the first Christmas...that he wasn't born in the 5 star inn with the newest nursery theme decorating his nursery...


boy child's ornament 2010-so.very.random!

I think our Christmas trees should be filled with kids...
with their uniquely handcrafted works of art
their hand selected ornaments
their love
these all point to the perfectly imperfectness of the first Christmas.
Christmas was never meant to be 'perfect'
we can't be perfect...
perfect was born for us on the first Christmas morning,
born to free us from the burden of being perfect
lollipop-boy child 2008
 Popsicle nativity-girl child 2006

and that is my little Christmas soap box...let your kids hang their uniquely crafted artwork on your Christmas tree...show them that they are good enough for your tree, they don't need to be perfect to fit into your Christmas memories!
Seriously, what is more important, your designer Christmas tree or the heart of your child that feels loved year after year when they get to hang their hand crafted, uniquely picked out, cherished ornaments on the family tree!
boy child 2008

wasn't the meaning of that first Christmas so obvious?
that Christmas is for all children
for the imperfect of us all
for family
for love, peace, joy

both girl child's all pink heart painted at 7,
'Jesus loves me' given to us by a church that was
praying for her when she was in the NICU
I mourn the day when our grown children claim all their weird/unique/precious ornaments that they have created and collected over the years leaving our tree free from their memories, from their perfectly-imperfectness.

Merry Christmas

2 comments:

Kelsy said...

Good point! That's about what our tree looks like too. :) I always wonder what those people do with all the things their kids make at school. lol
I do love the look of the fun themed trees (I would love to do a Giants baseball one!), but I would never want to replace my tree with the memories hanging on it for something like that. If I had the space (and money!), I'd do it in addition to our family tree, just for fun. :)

Linda said...

Said so well, Kiera!