I remember when I was a kid how excited I was when the Christmas tree went up. That really made everything official 🙂 We had the same artificial tree every year so when it came out of the box, it was like saying hi to a friend that we hadn’t seen in awhile. Christmas was weeks of tradition and the sameness of it was what made it perfect and is what so many memories are based on.

Eventually when I was married – and then married again, we would purchase a real tree. I love the smell of it and I see a beauty in the real tree that the artificial one just can’t compete with. Then eventually I had years where I would feel guilty for buying a tree that had been cut. It was sort of at the beginning of my appreciation for nature and trees were taking on a whole new meaning for me.

Is it really ok to grow a tree to cut it and decorate, only to dispose of it about 10 days later? Well, that lead to about 7 or 8 years of buying the potted trees. They were not very tall so they did not need nearly as many decorations or lights, but we did not dispose of them. When spring came, we had another tree to plant in our yard. And they smelled great too!!

Times have changed and now I no longer decorate a tree. I have decided to appreciate them for their beauty when I am outdoors, wherever they may be.

Trees are amazing, living and breathing beings. They are a part of us and we a part of them. They provide filters to clean our air, not to mention the comforts of shade in the heat – and wood for heat in the cold. Trees take care of us and I believe that we should take care of them.

Trees that are planted close to each other will create a community and if one tree becomes afflicted with disease or dis-tressed, the remaining trees will create and project a distasteful substance as protection and to deter birds, insects and wildlife from imposing further dis-tress.

With the present circumstances that we are living in – and with everyone having to adapt – we are being forced to make many changes in how we celebrate this beautiful time of year.

Looking back on the years of my youth and the many gifts of connecting and togetherness that we enjoyed with our traditional “sameness” every year, the memories of that time are something that I can always cherish. They cannot be taken away from me.

Change comes like the wind and from that change, something new will inspire us once again to believe in the beauty and the love of the season.

Maybe it will be a tree!