Is a Tree Really Important? | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Is a Tree Really Important? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Kirby Kirkpatrick
10/11/08
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How important is it really? A giant shrub we place in our living room once a year. Are we so deprived of foliage in the heart of winter that we must try growing a pine forest next to the TV? It does seem like a really silly idea, but I can’t imagine a Christmas without a tree. Each year we go hiking out in the cold the day after Thanksgiving to find that perfect specimen of sticks and needles willing to sacrifice itself for our holiday enjoyment. Inevitably it is cold and nasty, usually a strange mix somewhere between rain and snow.

Every year I make the suggestion that this is the year we break down and get an artificial tree. Every year I am resoundingly rebuked by the other three members of my household. Evidently unpacking plastic out of a box doesn’t have quite the same enjoyment of traipsing through mud in the middle of a sleet storm.

Now, my wife has a particular knack for finding the perfect tree. Of course she has one simple rule. Go as far as possible to the back of the tree farm because everyone knows, there is no possible way a suitable overgrown fern will be found in the first mile of rows. The first year we went hunting together I figured it was just because it was a nice day for a walk. The second year it was pouring down rain and yet we were still required to face down the risk of a case of pneumonia in search of that year’s masterpiece.

However, being married for over fifteen years I have learned to appreciate the real value in this process. You see we are not really looking for the perfect tree. We are engaging in a family tradition that allows us to truly focus on the meaning of Christmas. It all starts on that Thursday as we recover from stuffing pounds of turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes down our throats. We pull out the Christmas Decorations and get ready to turn the house from fall to winter. While many people are spending Friday searching for the best deals at desperate retailers we spend the day as a family. First freezing to find the tree, then arguing if it is straight, putting decorations on it with the sound of our favorite Christmas CD in the background, and of course making cookies, you can’t forget the cookies. It really isn’t Christmas without the aroma of melted chocolate in the air.

And at the end of the day we can curl up on the couch with our hot chocolate, watch the lights on the tree sparkle, and realize just what a sacrifice our Heavenly Father made when he gave us the ultimate Christmas Gift. As we work to put video games and new sweaters under the evergreen he was willing to give us so much more. He gave us his child. A little baby so that no matter how cold we get, how much we struggle to pay the bills, or how little we have to give to each other, we always have the opportunity for riches with no strings attached. Who knew a stick could mean so much.

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