Good Morning,
The day began with a smile and a super hot mug of Door County Candy Cane Coffee. Our dogs were outside already and fed. Now it is time to write.
Romans 15:7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
I will stand by the old saying " You are never too old to learn something" as my wife and I learned a lesson yesterday. And we qualify as old.
We were a little behind in our Christmas preparations. Our Christmas tree is usually up and decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving. This year has added some extra responsibilities to our chore list and circumstances prevented us from getting the tree out of the basement and decorated. The thought of not having a Christmas tree this year crossed my mind a few times for sure.
But yesterday was designated as the day for the tree. We have a large tree with ornaments that are a collection of our 1002 years of marriage. We do our best to display them all and to quote my wife " The tree seems to be getting bigger and heavier every year." I think it has something to do with the fact that the two tree trimmers are getting older.
It just so happened that we also wanted to spend some time with a dear friend who just needed some family time. We consider her family. We invited her to come home with us after church last night for pizza and root beer. We asked if she would like to stay and help put up the tree. Well the pizza was great and the root beer was cold. After dining we started in on that tree. The verbal banter with the three of us was a lot of fun. In no time flat the tree construction/ decorating was complete. What was a daunting task turned into a fun event. It went pretty late and as I was taking her home, she told me what a good time she had. She had already told us that she wasn't having a Christmas tree and that sharing ours and decorating it meant more than we knew. We did have fun hanging the ornaments and explaining what they were or who's picture was on them.
What we learned is this. You can invite people over for the holidays and display a beautiful tree. This is nice and true. But decorating the tree and spending time with someone who won't be having one is important also. I don't like pawning work on to someone else. But trimming the tree helps to give her some ownership and a sense of family. The third set of hands also made for lighter work. We never thought of that until last night. We learned that even with a chore, inclusion is important. We have enjoyed decorating the tree for a long time. We never thought that sharing the process with someone else could be "Celebrating" Christmas. She doesn't know this, but an ornament with her picture will be on that tree next year. I hope, " Lord willing" to be having a night of root beer and pizza with the little elf again next year just a little earlier in December.
God bless.
Marty
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