Christmas Tree Blessings

"May its colorful lights and ornaments call us to decorate with love our home and our world" -- Christmas Tree Blessing


One of my favorite features of our house is that we have a living room with cathedral ceilings that allows us to get an extremely tall Christmas tree.

The problem is, each year we try to out-do the previous year's tree and get an even taller . . . and fatter tree.  Last year, Jason and our friend Kelby nearly broke our sliding glass doors trying to get the tree into the house.

So this year we decided to scale back a bit.  Our tree this year is about 11 feet, which is considerably smaller than the past few years.

Okay . . . the truth is, the Christmas tree farm where we go didn't have many trees much larger. We must have cut them all down.  I think we're going to have to find a new place next year! 

Last year, I decided I wanted two trees in our house -- and yes, they are both real, despite the fact that my husband is allergic to pine trees.  If his skin touches the tree, he breaks out immediately.

Before you think I'm evil, Jason likes freshly cut trees just as much as I do.

So every year, we venture out for two weekends in a row to get our trees.  Both trees won't fit on the back of our truck, so we make two trips.

This was the first year Imani was able to cut our small tree down by herself.

And she even helped to carry it.

Our smaller tree is in our sitting room and all of the ornaments are light blue (think "Tiffany"), white and silver.  It's a very classic tree.

This year, we put the tree inside its stand and then placed the stand inside a giant antique wash tub that we found at Hub's Place over the summer.  I got the idea from last month's issue of Country Living and I love the way it looks.

If you don't own a giant old washtub, you need to get one. This summer, we filled it with flowers and placed it on our deck.   Please ignore all the dirt that spilled all around before I took the picture.

Our big tree doesn't exactly have a color scheme.  It's decorated mainly with red and cream bows, but the ornaments are a collection of ornaments that we get every year.  We have a tradition each year of going to a quaint little Christmas shop and each of us gets to select a new ornament every year. 

Here's the ornament Jason and I selected this year.  It's a delicate glass starfish.

This year, Imani chose a red guitar . . . no surprise there, if you remember her Rock Star bedroom renovation.

I don't know what we'd do if we had a smaller tree, because this tree is pretty full.  Jason's family has a tradition of giving ornaments to each other every year and the more bizarre the ornament, the better.

This tree also holds a lot of family memories, like the cake topper from our wedding that we turned into a Christmas ornament.

Or all of the homemade ornaments we made one year out of gingerbread.

Or all of Imani's ornaments she made in pre-school.

And the ornaments she made as gifts when she was little.

My sister definitely wins the award for giving the most beautiful ornaments.  She gave me this glass mermaid a couple of years ago. I remember she bought it right in front of me, but acted like it was for herself.  I absolutely loved it and was a little jealous she was buying it.  I was far too cheap to buy one for myself.  I was so surprised when I opened it on Christmas morning.

Last year, she gave us this beautiful seahorse.

And she also gave me this ornament when Imani was little.

Finally, one of my favorite ornaments is this motorized carousel that plugs into the lights and turns around and around, reflecting the lights from its mirrors.  One of my friends gave it to me years ago, and I wanted to get another one because I loved it so much, but I haven't found anything like it.

So those are our trees this year.  Each has its own character, and I love them both.

I will leave you with the "Christmas Tree Blessing" that appeared in our church bulletin last year on Christmas Eve.

Holy Creator of Trees,
bless with your abundant grace
this our Christmas tree as a symbol of joy.


May its evergreen branches be a sign of your never-fading promises.
May its colorful lights and ornaments call us
to decorate with love our home and our world.


May the gifts that surround this tree
be symbols of the gifts we have received
from the Tree of Christ's Cross.


Holy Christmas tree within our home,
may Joy and Peace come and nest
in your branches and in our hearts.  Amen.