Christmas trees...

About a month ago, I went back to spend a week with my dad as he recovered from a recent fall. One of the fascinating discoveries I made while visiting with him involves the countless old photo scrapbooks my mother made sometime before she died. In addition to the photo albums my sisters made to celebrate my parents' 35 and 50th wedding anniversaries, there are also a ton of scrapbooks with pictures going back to when I was born.

And one of the truly bizarre truths in all of those old pictures are the totally horrible Christmas trees! OMG! Some look like the fire-breathing creature from the movie, "The Fisher King." Some look like a junkyard on steroids. And some literally defy gravity (and please don't even mention aesthetics.) Now, I can actually remember going with my father to purchase many of these horrific Christmas trees, but I can't tell you what deal he cut with the various proprietors. But if these pictures are any indication, either he was doing somebody a big favor to take these trees off their property or else they told him, "Give me $2.00 and you can have it!" (When I visit next, I am going to gather - and post - these winners!)

Today, Dianne and I went Christmas tree hunting - and found a lovely blue spruce that is both symmetrical and spacious. I still love decorating Christmas trees even though I was scarred by my early childhood experiences. Over the years we have had "Zen Christmas trees" that were more about the space between the branches and the possibilities than the decorations. When the girls were younger, we also had very traditional and beautiful Christmas trees mostly to keep peace in the household when all hell was breaking loose around us. In Arizona there was no place to go and cut your own tree, so we became friends with the various merchant folk from Michigan who trekked to Tucson every year and took up residence outside our favorite supermarkets.

And now we look for simplicity and beauty in the trees we select: this year's tree is strong enough to hold some of the very heavy ornaments we have gathered from around the world. (That is another of our favorite past times: visiting Christmas shops in foreign lands.) It is also small enough to fit into our more modest New England home (in Arizona we had cathedral ceilings and could go crazy.) Putting up our tree always brings me a sense of joy and deep peace... and calls up my favorite clip from the old "Charlie Brown Christmas" (which I can remember watching when it was first shown, too.)

The spirituality of decorating - not just trees, but the whole house hold - reminds me that I am very grounded in the way of Mary rather than John the Baptist during Advent. God knows we need those prophetic and bold voices who rattle us from our comfort and challenge the status quo. I once thought that was me but now I am much more grounded in the way of Mary - who ponders things in my heart - and is more concerned with hospitality than bold acts of prophecy. Be gentle with yourselves as this season unfolds... and maybe dance a little, too.