The secret to properly lighting the Christmas tree was the decorating. Those were the days when there was a little less security with shredded documents. The shredded paper came from a bank. It was shredded financial documents. Can you image banks handing that out today. It was an innocent time when everyone was trustworthy and loved their neighbor, I think, perhaps, maybe?? Maybe not.
Anyway we would cut a Christmas tree early in December and allow it to properly dry until the great and momentous day arrived. A day for handing out presents and feasting on roast beef. Yes, that's right the day to Light the Christmas Tree.
If the tree was dried correctly and had just the right amount of shredded paper, it created quite a flash fire. One fine evening as the tree exploded into flame I looked up to see that I had wisely positioned the tree under the electric line from the meter pole to the buildings. The line, over 20 foot off the ground was engulfed in flames. Lucky for me the tree was pretty much a flash fire and did not last long enough to send us into the dark with melted electric lines falling around our heads like snowflakes of ashes turned to venomous snakes.
We could go back into the house and open presents with both light and heat instead of darkness and cold while I tried to call an electrician to come put lines back up on Christmas Eve. I am sure they would have rejoiced to do that when I told them why our lines were down. The little boy in the picture is Micah. Last year he lit a tree with his friends out at his grandparent's farm which brought the old tradition back to mind.
Sharon decided this year it was time to bring back the old ways that are so beloved. Traditions that have been the glue that has held families together through the generations. To try to bring back that time when there was trust and good will toward all men. A time when all the men were handsome and all the women were above average. Yes it was time to light the Christmas tree as a reminder of all that is noble in our world.
Of course I don't think Sharon and her accomplices realized they did not have a tree they had carefully dried and prepared for the ceremony. They had to hunt far and wide for the perfect tree that still had needles yet had achieved just the correct desiccation. Then they had to make it stand upright and decorate the tree. Ah, Sharon's maiden name is Bandstra, see explanation of Frisians above. They found pieces of a few trees at the city leaf dump that they could sort of tie together, they found some paper they could use to decorate the tree, and some young men to aid them and the rest is history. A tree was lit to symbolize a spark of light in a dark and worrisome world.
Speaking of a dark world, I do have a confession to make here, among friends, that I, who love literature and books; I, who feel everyone should read at minimum at least one book they disagree with every year; yes, I am a BOOK BURNER.
If you look carefully off to the right of the fire in our fireplace you can see the book lying on the top of the wood. It is a book on Greek Grammar. Our book shelves are overflowing and it is time to clean a few out so we can buy more. It is a painful experience for me to destroy a book, although there are a few I have burned with a smile on my face. I have no desire to dictate to others what they should read but sometimes if I come across a book that is vulgar or just flat out disgusting I burn it instead of donating it to a used book store and I have no regrets. The books we are burning now are not in that category, they are just books that would not sell if donated. I am sure no one who shops for used books at the local thrift store really wants a book on Greek Grammar. Although maybe I could have glued a picture of a man holding some damsel in distress to the front of it and it would have sold as a romance novel. Whoever bought it might have acquired a working knowledge of Greek before they realized they were not reading of some adventurous maiden's tryst with her masculine lover. Boy, I missed an opportunity to spread a little knowledge in the world there didn't I? ἰδοὺ ἡλίκον πῦρ (for those of you who did not read the Greek Grammar book I could have tried to pass of as a romance novel; that translates "Behold a small fire")
So it has been a season of burning, a time to bring a little warmth to a cold world. A time when family can say "we spent some time together acting like juveniles". I hereby declare 2018 the year to stop taking ourselves so seriously. A time to stop yelling at each other because we have different versions of what "light a Christmas tree" means. Most will plug in a string of lights and have a satisfied feeling of seeing the beauty of a well decorated tree, others will laugh as a fire engulfs the tree as it is lit.
We all see things differently, none of us has it exactly right. Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals lets dwell in peace and enjoy each others differences. Jesus said a new command I give you Love one another. I want to see more love in 2018. I want to hear more laughter and see more joy. Lets all live as God wants us to live, in relationship with each other and spread a little light and warmth each in his or her own way. ἰδοὺ ἡλίκον πῦρ
(Those Greek letters really messed up the formatting so I had to do the best I could.)
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