Tannenbaum, Wow

Quote of the day:
“The fake trees look better than the real kind (if, that is, you like perfection).”
--Jeff D. Opdyke, The Wall Street Journal

To say that our Christmas tree is idiosyncratic would be an understatement. It has a hole that we didn’t notice in the tree lot (does anyone?). Branches jut out at strange angles all over the tree. And it leans to the left--a condition that seems to get more pronounced the longer it drinks water in our living room.

The house smells good, though. And the tree was grown on a San Diego County farm just for this purpose.

We seek the perfect Christmas tree just as we often seek the perfect “Christmas experience”--happy, well-adjusted family; warm feelings over eggnog around the fire; the joyful anticipation and fulfilled promise we may have known on previous Christmases.

We know that life is messy. Things are not as easy for us as we’d like. Our kids make unusual or bad decisions. Someone has an accident or gets very sick. As much as we truly wish and plan and hunt for the “perfect” tree, we know things will not always work out as we want or hope.

What is wonderful, though, is that the holiday holds such potential for surprise. We may just find ourselves experiencing something in a special new way, if we let down our guard a bit, and haul that defective tree into the house, even though it’s already shedding needles everywhere.