Five Ways to a More Meaningful Christmas Tree
A recent episode of The Christmas Show about the Fake Christmas drew an email response from a listener who shared an interesting take on how meaningless the modern Christmas tree has become.
She wrote:
“I inherited my parents aluminum Christmas tree. They acquired it in the early 1960s. I have not known what to do with it. I can’t get rid of it. My mother loved that tree. I thought about selling it and found that on eBay I could probably get some good money for it. I pulled it out last year and just seeing it made me emotional. For nostalgia’s sake, and likely because I just miss my Mom, I put it up. At first, the day after Thanksgiving, I just put it up, fluffed it a bit, and plugged it in. Over the next few weeks I began to decorate it. It turned out to be the most glorious part of Christmas last year and easily the most meaningful Christmas thing I have done in years. Big lessons for me in all this. Christmas trees matter when we give them time and thought. I cannot wait to put up my mom’s old aluminum fake tree this year for more real Christmas.”
I share that comment with her permission because it makes a point I think we really miss when it comes to the stuff of the season. In our rush to do things for Christmas we miss the heart of it all sometimes. Christmas trees are just one example of that.
How can you make something like a Christmas tree become a more meaningful part of your Christmas?
There are likely dozens of answers to that. We offer these five suggestions:
~ You Don’t Have to Do What You’re Told ~
The world is full of opinions and maybe with some things you need to take advice. With a Christmas tree, you do not. It’s your tree in your house. Who says there are rules? And who are they to say what you do with your tree in your house?
Now, of course, there are common sense things you apply, such as fire safety standards.
But at the end of the day, a Christmas tree is personal. It is expression, it is unique, and it is representative of what you feel.
So forget ideas about having to adopt a theme, follow a trend or to make it look any particular way. Too many try to keep up with the Joneses when it comes to something as simple as a Christmas tree.
Didn’t Charlie Brown teach us this?
Influencers, decorators and other such rule enforcers shouldn’t hold sway when it comes to our Christmas trees.
If you see something you like and want to adopt it, fine.
But it doesn’t have to be that way and it certainly isn’t something that has to be perfect in the eyes of anyone but you.
~ What does the Christmas Tree represent to you? ~
It’s safe to say that the Christmas tree has for many become a perfunctory part of the season. Just one more thing to do. Tradition is great and the tree itself is tradition enough. You don’t have to do it the same way you always have.
Change begins with contemplating what you’re doing. Just what is the symbol of the Christmas tree as part of your season?
For some, it is the traditional sacred perspective of eternal life. They call it an “evergreen” for a reason and for many that eternal take on the tree is worthy of making that Christmas connection.
For others, it’s not the pine or the evergreen angle. It’s just the tree. The tree is as close to a universal symbol as it comes. The tree is used in countless societies as a sacred symbol of life, family and eternity. Long ago I wrote about my “ancestral Christmas tree”, which is just a tree decorated with photo ornaments of my ancestors.
As the grandchildren come to visit at Christmas I have them take one of those ornaments off my tree. They invariably ask about who the picture is of and I tell them. Then they take the ornament home and put it on their own tree.
This will be my fourth Christmas doing the ancestral tree and one of my older grandchildren has already asked if there will be a new ornament she can add to her growing number of ancestor Christmas ornaments for her tree.
This has become a connecting thing for me and my grandchildren, positive in every way.
There are many ways to turn the Christmas tree from just one more thing to do to something important to do.
~ More than one Christmas tree is okay ~
When I was a child getting a Christmas tree was a cherished, once-a-year event. It was a production to go to the mountains, find a tree, cut it down, load it up, bring it home, set it up, light it up and decorate it. The singularity of that event made it special and it never occurred to any of us to have more than one tree.
But the marketplace has changed that a little bit since then. Real trees are still available but expensive. Artificial trees come in huge varieties and can fill odd spaces. They all, no matter where they are, add light.
I now have several trees and each is as unique as can be.
They serve different purposes and have different messaging. The latest for me is what I call the Nativity Tree, a tree that is all about the Baby Jesus. Over the years I have collected Nativity ornaments or other items that I have made into Nativity ornaments. For me, that is meaningful.
For others, the tree is used for more whimsical themes. And that’s totally okay.
I have a family member who does a whole Disney tree. That’s her thing. She once told me she feels silly with Mickey and Goofy ornaments and that she does not really share that tree with the world. I think she should. It’s merry and it’s her.
You do you. And be proud of it.
~ A Christmas Tree is Center Stage ~
Each year at SantaUpdate.com, Santa sends a message soon after Thanksgiving that has become traditional: he advises believers to give their tree a name. Some come up with some pretty goofy names because it seems a silly tradition.
But Santa is wise to advise this.
Giving the tree a name makes it a family member and a center piece in the home. And that’s exactly how it was regarded back in the day. Just when is “back in the day”?
Christmas trees really were one of the first truly viral fads of the 19th century. To get a Christmas tree in 1850 was more of a community thing than something that happened in families. Within just a decade that changed. By the 1860s nearly every home had a Christmas tree and it defined the family Christmas.
In those days you could not buy a tree or decorations in a store. Everything was done at home and by hand.
So it became a creative family endeavor that required effort.
That made it important. That made it a stage in the home. As the tree was done it was used as a backdrop for family meetings, discussions, music and reading. It was where you did things together.
There’s nothing wrong with getting things for the tree from a store. That is not the point. The point is to make it front and center for Christmas in the home.
~ Your Christmas Tree, Your Brand ~
Last year I was surprised when I visited a friend and did not see her Star Wars tree.
For years she had the largest tree in her home decorated with X-wings, Death Stars and R2D2s. She even had light saber lights and her famous Vader helmet tree topper.
But not last year. After 20 years she decided to retire it.
“That phase is over,” she told me. I was stunned. This was a 30-year quest with her that I watched in wonder and the Star Wars tree evolved year after year with ever increasing detail. It was fun to watch her get excited over it every year.
In it’s place was a completely different thing. Her new main tree is now very traditional in color and lights but it carries a musical theme.
Why?
As a child this friend endured piano lessons and she just hated playing the piano. Her mother was a concert pianist and her family going way back was very musical. But she never inherited the talent or the desire to get into music at all, much to the dismay of her mother.
Fast forward to about a decade ago when her mother, as a dying wish, asked my friend to just go to concerts with her during her final years. For the better part of three years they went to every local symphony, choral concert or other musical event they could.
And guess what?
My friend learned that she enjoyed music after all. She thrilled her Mom at the age of 48 by taking lessons on the violin. She now plays for a local orchestra and laughs as she admits she has now “joined the rest of the family”.
Her Mom has been gone for many years now but she sees her new musical Christmas tree (which has ornaments that actually play Christmas music) as a tribute to her parents (who were both very musical).
There’s power in changing things up.
For my friend, who has not retired her Star Wars theme entirely (it’s on a smaller tree now), her “main” Christmas tree means just a little more now.
She has rebranded her tree entirely and, for her, it feels good.
~ Why We Love Christmas Trees ~
The wonder of a Christmas tree seen through the eyes of a toddler never leaves us. We remember those Christmas trees we first saw. We want that same feeling those first special trees gave us.
That alone is the reason to take time to really create with your Christmas tree. It’s not just a decoration – it is part of our annual Christmas experience.
Making it an experience is what is important. If it is just another thing to do maybe you sure try Christmas without it.
That will be when you learn what is really meaningful about your Christmas tree.
