December 2007
The Leaning Tower of Tree
Last
Sunday morning I was putting on the
finishing touches to our Christmas
tree- “The Leaning Tower of Tree” as
I have come to call it. The tree
doesn’t sit right in the stand and
keeps tilting its branches forward
into the room. Just enough where
you walk by, cock your head, and
think, “Huh. I wonder if it’s not
straight, it looks a bit off.” And
sure enough, it is and I will try to
straighten it back, only to have it
lean into me again. It’s actually
become rather endearing, giving our
tree a unique and varied quality.
Then there
are the ornaments, as equally unique
and varied as the tree itself. You
have the rocking chair with no
rockers, a skiing snow man with one
ski, a beeswax angel with one wing,
and a bell with no knocker. For all
you Christmas tree perfectionists
out there, I am sure these ornaments
of my childhood would stay in your
ornament box. But on my tree? I
display them proudly, not hiding
them in the back near the wall, but
right out in front where you can see
and enjoy them. Though they may be
broken and the missing pieces you
would expect to be there, I see them
as beautiful and precious. I see
them and remember years long past
when my sisters, my mother, and I
would decorate our tree together.
We each had our own ornament boxes
and every year, we eagerly sorted
through all the Christmas
decorations to find “our box”. Many
of our ornaments were the same, or
with slightly varied colors, like
the rocking chair. My mother would
pen a B, S, or M on our ornaments to
delineate one girl’s from another.
Several of my ornaments still hold
this signature and I enjoy it for it
reminds me of being together. And I
am sure that my sister’s versions of
the rocking chair, the snowman, and
the angel on the moon are hanging on
my sister’s trees as well, still
binding us together in heart if not
in space.
Like those
Christmas tree ornaments, we can
seem broken, much like the
playthings on the Island of Misfit
toys from the story of Rudolf. But
in my eyes, it doesn’t matter
anyway. Perfection, as humans judge
perfection, only exists in the
Divine. In the Divine eyes, we are
each extraordinary and worthy of
being shown proudly on the brightest
boughs. I was reminded of this last
Saturday at our Hoggatt Family
Christmas. Every year the Hoggatt
family gets together, grandparents,
aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, and
siblings. Everybody comes. We
spend the day eating copious amounts
of food, exclaiming over how much
we’re eating, talking with each
other, playing cards, sitting on
Santa Clause’s lap, and our yearly
gift card exchange game. This year
in addition to the already listed
activities, I added playing horsy,
giving piggy back rides, playing
hide and go seek, sneaking candy to
my niece, and all around frivolity.
For me, it is the best part of
Christmas and I look forward to it
every year. We aren’t perfect
certainly, but we value one another
for who we are, each in our
uniqueness and personal beauty. And
if I could, I would put each of our
imperfect selves on my “Leaning
Tower of Tree” to remind me of the
bonds we share, the love we hold,
and the gifts we are to each other.
For through my ornaments, I am
learning to value something for the
thing itself, not for what it once
was, or what it will be, but for
what it is now. It’s being alive
and being grateful for the present
moment, however imperfect we think
it is.
So this
year as you celebrate Christmas with
your family and friends, forget
perfection. Forget trying to make
it all “just perfect”. It’s not
perfect. It’s not ever going to be
perfect. But it will be yours and
that alone makes it beautiful.
Enjoy the food, enjoy the gifts,
enjoy the music, but most of all,
enjoy each other. Jesus Christ
is born, He is born in each of
us and that makes us perfect.
Below are
some photos taken with my camera at
our Hoggatt Family Christmas. If
any of you in my family want copies
with better resolution or to see the
ton of other photos, call or e-mail
me and I’ll get them to you. Merry
Christmas!!!
