O Christmas Tree

There is something so peaceful about a Christmas tree. This year, we put smaller one in our bedroom, decorated it with some small, glass ornaments that we can't put on the main Christmas tree (one word: cats), and topped it with an angel.

I think we've created a new tradition. Every night since Lonnie set it up in our bedroom, we've turned the lights on, and even now, as I write this, I look at it and am instantly calmed. A Christmas tree really is a beautiful thing. And it represents so much more than the lights, the branches, or even the memories that adorn it in the forms of all kinds of dangling ornaments.

So, I decided to renew my (forgotten) knowledge of the history of the Christmas tree on history.com and this paragraph stood out:

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.

 I never knew (probably forgot) that the Christmas tree tradition began in Germany. Americans actually thought the trees were odd. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania. I love all kinds of Christmas trees, and I tend to think most are beautiful in their own way. If children decorate a tree, it's beautiful because children decorated it. If there are popcorn-cranberry strands of garland, I think that's also beautiful in an old-fashioned way. On our main tree, I still hang ornaments that I made from when I was in elementary school. Two of them are covered in tin foil. (Lonnie promised me he'll get his childhood ornaments at my father-in-law's house this year.)

Big, small, flocked, or green, fat, skinny, all white lights, colored lights, blinking or still lights...a Christmas tree is a flood of happiness and peace. It's a beautiful night light, too.

Merry Christmas!