When?

 

When?

I live in northeast Wisconsin.  Going back at least as far as the melting of the last ice age much of the northern half of the state still reflects what Laura Ingalls Wilder referred to as “The Big Woods”.  There is a mixture of trees from aspen (or popples, as we would refer to them), paper birch, sugar maple, and oak (red, white and scrub), plus a smattering of other species such as basswood, ironwood and beech.  Heavily sprinkled amongst all these are the evergreens, especially spruce and white pines.  It is the evergreens that dominate our hearts, if not the landscape this time of year.  A good question to ponder is exactly when does an evergreen become a Christmas tree?

I starts as all good stories, and even the Gospel, at the beginning.  At some moment the Christmas tree farmer (yes, there are such people), decides what species he is going to plant.  The farmer likely considers the lay of his land, whether it is high or low ground, or even rolling hills.  What trees have grown well here in the past?  That so, is the past the beginning?

For me, whenever the farmer decides some piece of his property will be planted in double balsam, he has decided the tree he will plant will be a Christmas tree.  My father preferred the short-needled trees because they retain their needles better than spruce trees.  My mother loved the rich fragrance that balsams fill the whole house with when brought indoors to decorate.  Christmas is much ado with family tradition.  Christmas trees were balsams  in my childhood and so, a Christmas tree is a balsam to me.  Also, balsams provide the rich perfume that is added to olive oil and blessed by a bishop in the week leading up to Easter that becomes the sacred chrism used in baptisms, confirmations, ordinations and blessing new altars for churches.  So, while my parents I don’t think appreciated that fact, there is even a tradition connection between Christ, the church, and balsam.

As the trees grow from season to season, the farmer returns each summer to trim and shape the tree.  Just as Jesus talked about the need for pruning, if the tree is not shaped and pruned as it grows, it can grow wild and misshapen.  Understandably, the farmer is concerned with return on his investment.  Whoever will select the tree at some future Christmas time will be concerned that the tree looks the part.  As the trees are pruned then, they are already Christmas trees, even though anyone looking at them in the early years may only see a field of evergreen trees.

Finally, the tree becomes a Christmas tree when people are directed to the section where the tree has been growing for the last ten years or so with a saw in hand.  They are not looking at the tree as an evergreen, but as potentially the tree that is perfect for their home.  When someone kneels down and lays the sawblade across the tree’s trunk, they have decided that this is not only a Christmas tree; it is, the Christmas tree they have been looking for.  When the white sawdust flies as the sawblade goes back and forth, there is no turning back.

When the tree is laid in the bed of the truck, or tied across the car roof it is a Christmas tree for every passerby to see.  The vehicle’s radio must be turned to Christmas music for the ride home, as something wonderful, the Christmas tree is coming to the home. 

When the furniture in the living room, or family room is rearranged, the tree is brought indoors, and placed in the stand so that it stands erect and proud and pointing to Heaven, it becomes a Christmas tree.

When the decorations are brought out from storage there is an acknowledgement that there is a Christmas tree at hand.  I was taught to start from the top down with the lights, so first our lighted angel goes on the top branch, and then the strings of colored lights are wound around and down to the bottom.  You must be sure to first put some lights deep inside, near the trunk; the final lights are for the outside.  Once the angel and the remainder of the lights are  on and lit, the tree has become a Christmas tree – twinkling with lights just like the starry skies above the shepherds of Bethlehem’s hills.

Then carefully, the ornaments are added.  Each one adds a single story of the many interwoven stories of a family.  So, that the tree is not only a Christmas tree for this particular season and year; it is, in reality, every Christmas tree this family has ever brought home. 

When the wrapped gifts are placed under the tree it becomes a Christmas tree.  As Christmas tells again each year of the child born to us, the son given us, as a Christmas tree, this tree now reminds us all that Christmas above all else, is the season for gifts given of love.  When all the presents, awaited so anxiously, but wait so patiently encircle the tree, this tree has become a Christmas tree.

Finally, on Christmas morning, when the gifts have been given, the tree has become a Christmas tree because it reminds us that Christmas is about gifts given.  It is about The Gift given.  It is our job to receive The Gift, and so, it appropriate that the boxes are now opened.  It is when the gifts have been given, with just a scrap of wrapping paper littered here and there, that the tree has finally become a Christmas tree.

When the tree, lit and decorated, remains standing over the stable scene, it becomes a Christmas tree – reminding us of the full Christmas season.  The world still awaits its epiphany, that the Lord has come for all – for Mary and Joseph, and the shepherds, and the magi and all who wonder again at what child this is.

And, when the Lord is baptized and the decorations and lights come back off, and the tree is brought back outside, it will become a Christmas tree.  It will be propped against the grape arbor to provide extra shelter for the birds that frequent the feeders.  It will remind us that Christ, as St Paul reminds us, emptied himself for the sake of others. 

Live the full Christmas Season!

His Peace <><

Deacon Dan