Encouragement Along the Way - My Friday Show and Tell with Canadagirl

Encouragement Along the Way

Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.

Psalm 34:3

Dec. 20, 2007

My Friday Show and Tell with Canadagirl

Posted in Tags

Incase you have found me by clicking the random button or maybe you are new to Homeschool Blogger and do not know about Show and Tell ith Canadagirl. If that is the case, click on over to her blog, find Good ol' Mr. Linky and you will discover a whole lot of new friends.You will also discover Our Amazing God who answers prayers for water, builds a house and even gaves me a Cyber twin.

During Chanukah Canadagirl asked me if we put up a Christmas tree. Well I could simply say no and leave it at that or I could share with you our journey to a tree-less Christmas. I chose the later. Mostly because I want you to know how attached to Christmas trees I was!

When I was a Child I knew about Jesus being born in a manger, but I did not know the significance of that to me personally. I did know about Santa and I could recite T'was the Night Before Christmas like Linus could recite Luke Chapter 2. Santa was a big deal for me growing up and I shared about that here.

Santa brought our presents, but Santa also brought our Christmas Tree. Christmas eve we would make Fudge and bake cookies which we would leave out for Santa when I was little he got milk when I was older he got a beer (I mean how much milk can one guy drink). My mom would take us to the window and we would see (yes SEE, must have been the beer) Santa off in the distance and race into bed so he wouldn't catch us awake.

In the morning the Tree would be all lit up and decorated where no tree had been the night before with presents underneathe when last night it had been empty. How could I not love that kind of magic. That tree set my heart on fire the scent filled every pore in my body. Santa had come and gave me a TREE!

Now as a wife and a mom I still was bowled over by the fragrance of a real tree and a fake tree would never have darkened my doorstep. If you asked me what I wanted for Christmas it was for Santa to give me a tree. My husband on the other hand grew up in Northern California about a 1/2 mile from this computer's present location, and trees were cut down from his backyard. This fact will cause trouble over the years when as the Air Force sent us around the world he would have to BUY a tree.

In South Dakota this was easy, for 10 or 15 dollars we could get a nice tree and having our little one (and my five year old sister living with us) we needed the glitz; Without Jesus you really need the glitz. However in Italy it was a lot harder. Italy does not have a lot of pine trees and the ones trucked into the Army Base from Germany were two hours away on the BUS! Yes...I brought the tree back to our base on the BUS all seven feet of it! The Boy Scouts were selling them and I knew Mike would be so surprised! So was the Bus Driver!

The Next Year there was a Notice Posted on the Base that said No Christmas trees could come home on the bus. And a three foot fake tree came into my home and we tried really hard to love it. Just like Charlie Brown's pathetic little tree could be loved into beauty we were certain this one would be too. This was also the first year Jesus was in my heart for Christmas as well. Heatherlee was three and the littlest shepherd on the stage for our Christmas play. Matt was one and Santa Scared him to death!

When we moved to Wasington DC the price of a tree made me cry and I knew we could never afford one again. But by Christmas Eve the prices were slashed and my Beloved gave me a tree for Christmas. Prices on the East Coast would enter in to our lack of a Christmas tree. Our last Christmas in DC , Quantico Marine Base was clearing a piece of land and for the price of ONE DOLLAR we could go on to the Base and Cut one ourselves! This was the year my Beloved finally bowed his knee to Christ as His Lord and Savior and I believe this was Jesus blessing his childhood memory.

The first year we could not afford a real tree and Mike asked about getting a fake tree I said NO! I just couldn't do it. We had done the pathetic tree foot Charlie Brown Plastic tree I would not spend the same amount on a fake tree as I would a real tree both being outrageous. So for the first time in my whole life we didn't have a tree.

Now just as with Santa Claus, I had a lot of well meaning Christian Sisters screaming about pagan rituals, and telling me that Christmas trees were evil. There were too many slants on the tree from Saints to Martin Luther to Norse rituals so I gave that to the Lord.

What we did do, because we could not afford a tree? We set up the Nativity Set I had made from Bread Dough. We couldn't afford one of those either. And I loved the set I had made! Anyway we set it up, took our Christmas tree lights and lit up the table it set on and placed our presents under it. And something wonderful happened. Really ,it changed the focus of Christmas for our children. The tree had them focusing on the presents under it and the Nativity set had them focusing on either the EMPTY manger before Christmas or the full one After Christmas. It felt right to set presents at Jesus' feet. And that is what we did, and that is what we do still today. It has become a loving memory in our hearts.

Now my Children do things differently. Heatherlee does not put up a tree , her husband never grew up with a tree and Santa is not a part of her children's lives (although this week I wish I had had Heatherlee's elf from when she was little so I could have treatened them all with telling Santa on them for their behavior!!!!!)

Matthew on the other hand has a Christmas tree and Santa as well for our five year old granddaughter, Kayla and Syrena has learned to like the tree a little more each year because she didn't much like Christmas before she married Matt. This year they even left the presents under the tree until Christmas.

NOW that was a really long "Tell" for a simple yes or no question. But I wanted to make sure that Canadagirl knew that it wasn't a religious reason. So now my "Show" will be SHORT to balance out my telling part of this Show and Tell.

Yesterday we went to Barnes and Nobles and picked up a New Christmas Story called Mortimer's Christmas Manger!

I love this story! Yes it has a Chrsitmas Tree and a Nativity and a Good understanding of the Brith of Jesus. Everyone of Heatherlee's children loved it, from the 12 year old to the two year old (especially the giggling BOYS!)

If you would like to join Show and Tell with Canadagirl come Here and play!

• Post A Comment! • Send to a Friend!

Comments

Dec. 21, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by AcceptanceWithJoy

Bobbie... Again, you are so gracious about things that divide many bloggers. I wanted to say, when my parents were stationed in Germany, a real tree... not happening. They bought a fake one. When we returned to the states, they thought they would get a real tree again, but those cost money. They had a fake tree in the storage shed. I don't remember having a real tree growing up.

When I moved on my own, my first tree was a real tree. I guess I wanted to do things differently from my mom. It was about 3 feet high and looked exactly like something Charlie Brown might decorate. Trees were expensive and my apartment was only a little over 400 SF. I moved on to a fake table top tree then next year.

After my divorce, I had a roommate who insisted on a real tree. By this time I was a Captain in the Army, living in an area with a low cost of living and my roommate paid half my house payment. We bought a real tree. We went back to the store three times to get a bigger tree stand. Two days after we put it up, it came crashing down in the middle of the night. We screwed a hook into a stud in the wall and tied a heavy cord from the hook to the trunk of the tree, redecorated the tree, sopped up the water, and vacuumed the pine needles all before I had to get ready to go to work that morning ~

The way I figure it, the Germans were the first to use artificial Christmas trees. I am German... a fake tree is part of my heritage. Now I have a fake tree that is already strung with lights. Nothing could be finer!! :o)