Seeing Christmas with childlike eyes
It all started with an announcement on the local news channel that a certain department store was having a sale on artificial Christmas trees. That caught my attention because we had given away our old one before moving out to Michigan. It had served us well for several years, but wasn’t worth shipping across the country on the moving van.
Soon after seeing that advertisement, Al and I drove to the store to check out the trees. We settled on a 6 ½ foot Alberta Spruce (a good name!) strung with 250 lights. It looked kind of fake and scrawny; however we hoped that with decorations it would do.
Would our dogs try to snatch them off the tree? We decided to put it up on the coffee table, hopefully out of their reach. The box was stored away in a corner of the dining room until the weekend after Thanksgiving. We had agreed to babysit our two grandsons from Saturday afternoon to Sunday after church. Setting up the tree for our first Christmas in Michigan seemed like a good activity to do with them.
Just before dinner Saturday night, we carried the box over to the living room and gathered around it. Nate, 8, and Elliot, 6, were curious about how a Christmas tree could fit in that slim rectangular container. Three separate sections of branches and four small triangular plastic pieces were pulled out of the box and laid on the carpet.
It didn’t take Nate long to assemble the plastic stand. Fitting the three sections together turned out to be more difficult because the top section of the tree didn’t fit into the middle section. Al came to the rescue by cutting off a small piece of the square plastic base which had been bent. With that adjustment the two pieces fit together and the tree took on its proper shape.
Once it was put up on the coffee table, it nearly touched the ceiling — just the right height! Our goal was almost accomplished. However, when we plugged the cord into a wall socket nearby nothing happened. Suddenly, Nate remembered that the switch to the front porch also controlled that socket. Leave it to an 8 year old! We were all relieved when he flipped the switch and the tree began to glow.
After dinner, the boys helped open two boxes of ornaments — familiar to us, but new and interesting to them. They examined each one before finding the right spot to hang it, taking turns standing on a little step stool to reach the higher branches.
When Nate discovered a glass Christmas globe in one ornament box, he wound up the key on the bottom and was delighted to hear “Joy to the World.” The room was filled with that exuberant melody, played over and over and over again. Our Christmas music!
Elliot wanted to know where the star for the top of the tree was. I showed him a small stuffed one made from white lacy material. He told me that his family’s star was gold and lit up. Oh well! But when we were finished, he exclaimed, “It’s the best tree ever!”
With the music, the decorated tree, little boys’ faces aglow from the twinkling lights, the four of us together and love present in that room, it was a very special, almost sacred, moment.
Dear Father, please touch our hearts during this Holy Season and draw us close to you. May we see Christmas with childlike eyes, experiencing it with a new sense of wonder and awe. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
“At that time, Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.’” — Luke 10:21 NIV