O... Christmas Tree

They just ain't easy to find here...

You see them around. Big department stores have them, hotel lobbies have secured them that rival the National Christmas Tree in DC and once and awhile you find a 12 inch model on a table in a restaurant....

But we did find our own...

It was at the "faux-western" market where we buy many of our foodstuffs. There, amidst the rice cookers, toilet seat covers (more on this necessity later), and green tea...a tiny section of CHRISTMAS DECOR!

The trees offered were no match for our trees at The Old Place. But, this is The New Place and we always remind ourselves that a "change will do us good."

Or so we hope...

The Christmas decor aisle was about the size of the car floor mat section of Walmart at The Old Place. Many of the offerings for this year's holiday season were like circa 1978 at The Old Place. Plus, lots of funky purple tinsels, pink lights and crazy-eyed Santa replicas. (I know my dear friend MB is all in with the pink/purple offerings.)

But we're going for red, green and some gold stuff. Those traditional colors that I've always loved on our trees of Christmases past.

For the first time we score tinsel for the tree... the kind that is big, bushy and wraps like a snake around the tree. We find a few packages of ornaments that fit our desired color-scheme and one artificial tree that appears to have suffered from an eating disorder.

BUT WE ARE HAPPY!

Frankly, we needed a little Christmas, right that very minute...

So, like generations of our people have done...we turned on some Christmas song favorites and trimmed the tree.

These rituals are important and this will be an important Christmas for us as it represents an unparalleled opportunity to share about the meaning of Christmas in our classrooms, in our company and with all who will visit our home.

We're planning two parties...

Next Saturday we'll cram in as many locals as we can fit in this place. We'll sing Christmas carols and share about the birth of the King. Please lift us up during this time as it will be an exciting opportunity.

Then, after our oldest daughter, Butterfly arrives here on the 26th of December...we'll host another large dinner party on the 27th! (Which is also Daddy's birthday!)

Wow...that's going to take a lot of work and co-ordination for the food for both events. (How I wish I could enlist the skills of Mama K's Catering Service!)

These things sandwiched in between performances our family has been asked to give at our local fellowship and the coffee house we haunt on Friday nights. Plus...our school Christmas Performance next Friday night will be a portrayal of the Nativity scene, narrated in full by the scripture's account with the student's singing and acting our the roles. This all done in front of the entire company's workforce in an auditorium that seats 1000!

So...it should be a low-key holiday for us...