The Perfect Tree

Holidays make my heart happy. I enjoy planning for them months in advance.  The day after Christmas I usually shop for the following Christmas.  It’s become kind of a tradition for Mike and me to pick out the following year’s wrapping paper, bows, tags, ornaments and small gifts.  My mama watches the kids while we pop into a couple of stores to do our secret shopping.  It’s a date of sorts which starts out with a Starbucks run!!! Hey we all need our final gingerbread latte fix or Christmas Blend coffee! Then off to Target, Pier One and sometimes even Walmart (if Mike’s in a good mood) we go. I honestly get a tad bit excited the following year when I find the bag of all the treasures from our previous shopping trip.  

Throughout the year I tuck items away for the kids in a special cupboard.  So my Christmas excitement builds the entire year.  Since I have lost gifts in the past I try to put them all in the same location.  I am sure many of us have found intended Christmas presents hidden in places later in the year.   

The day after Thanksgiving I want all the halls decked.  Since Mike is in full time ministry Christmas is quite busy.  We enjoy having it all done once we dive into December.   The day usually entails getting the tree, putting up some lights outdoors, possibly wrapping some gifts and making cookie dough.  

This year we got up bright and early.  The kiddos piled in the mini van eager with excitement to go find the perfect Christmas tree!  Mike had done some internet research and made a few phone calls.  We had a plan! 

We ended up at a really nice “cut-your-own-tree” farm.  There were tons of trees.  The family who owned the farm was incredibly friendly. The kids had fun running through the rows of beautiful pines.   We looked and looked.  There was quite a variety of trees that included balsams and frasier firs (Mike’s favorite) but none of them seemed to be the right one.    I have always had a soft spot for fat trees.  After we had been searching for a while, Mike said to me, “Jen I will cut any tree you want ...even if it’s fat and topless.”   This will forever be a favorite quote of mine for many Christmas’ to come!   Eventually the owner came over and wondered how we were doing.  I felt so guilty because I could not find the right tree and wanted to look somewhere else.   Mike explained to the man we had hoped for a taller tree.  The man was so kind and told us of another tree farm down the road.  We thanked him and took our mini van over some more hills.   

Once we got to the next place we all got out of the van and Mike spotted the perfect tree in less than a minute!   I was super excited!!! It really was a beautiful tree. The man handed us a saw and let us know if we needed help he would cut it down.    Before Mike started to cut I found a birds’ nest in the tree. It was a perfect little nest which we tucked into the tree beside us.   During this whole experience Mike had many thoughts of Clark Grizwold from the movie Christmas Vacation running through his mind.   One of his favorite movies ... not mine!

The nice man who owns the tree farm cut our tree down for us using a chainsaw.  Mike helped the man drag our tree toward the baler.  Now came the incredibly entertaining part ... getting the tree on the van.  It wasn’t quite as large as the Grizwold’s tree, but we still needed a backhoe!  Did I mention the tree was nine feet tall and over six feet wide!  I told you I like fat trees!  Our children were very entertained to see a large piece of equipment putting their Christmas tree on the van.   It was quite the trip for sure.  We finally had a Christmas tree and met some really special people along the journey.

Off we went toward home to continue on the adventure.  We had to get the tree in!   I suggested Mike drive around to the back door so we could load the tree right into the room that would host it for the next four weeks.  Well, my poor husband ended up getting the van stuck in our yard.  Which resulted in two of our kind neighbors helping him.  Those same kind neighbors also helped him get the tree in the house.   

Now that the tree was inside it was time to get it in the tree stand.  That turned out to be not a good idea since our tree was too heavy for our stand.  We tried and tried to get that darn tree to stay up but it wouldn’t! So we had the kids get into their Christmas PJ’s and pile in the car after they ate lunch.  We were grateful good old Home Depot had a Christmas tree stand made just for trees like the one we hauled home!

I think so often circumstances become much more than we ever imagined them to be.   During these times we may complain and get frustrated, we may quit, we may settle or we may press on.  Our attitude drives how we handle circumstances. Because we pressed on we ended up with our perfect tree!

Proverbs 17:22 says, “A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.”

To be honest the roadblocks of our tree adventure were quite entertaining in my book.  And I was very proud of my husband whose attitude was amazing.  His only real frustration was when he got the van stuck in the lawn.  And our lawn is an absolute mess right now due to a construction project.  So what’s another area we now need to seed in the spring?  It’s just dirt after all.

When I look back on this day I smile!  Honestly, a few years ago this type of day could have gone in a completely different direction.  The frustration of the day could have been overwhelming. There very well could have been unmet expectations and very likely some hurt feelings.  We have grown a lot as a couple in the past years.  And while this post is about picking a Christmas tree I feel it symbolizes something so much bigger for our lives.  

I have learned I often plan too much for a day and then become disappointed because I did not get enough accomplished.  This is a battle for me since I also have a full time job outside of the home.  My hope is to take advantage of our time as a family of five as much as possible.  Mike is good at helping me have realistic expectations.  And Mike knew the whole picking out the tree things was important to me.  He knows I am all about the experience and making the memory with the kiddos.  During our many years of battling infertility we would talk about when we have kids then we will get a real tree!  I remember our first Christmas with the twins and bundling them in snow suits to go get our very first real tree.  So yes a Christmas tree is most certainly a symbol of this special season.  But to us it represents life and answered prayers! 

It did not matter at the end of the day if we did not do everything on “MY” to do list. I am very thankful God continues to grow me.   He is working in our marriage and giving us a sense of togetherness like we have never had before.  God knows we still have a lot of learning and growing to do.  

I am grateful for the memories we made, the people we met, the helpers who came along and a really beautiful Christmas tree.  I love that we laughed so much that day about all the little road blocks.  We are still laughing.  Our children had a great day and found the whole experience very fun!  We did the whole thing together as a family!  After the ordeal this tree may still be here during Easter!