THE WORLD’S UGLIEST CHRISTMAS TREE
I can remember when I
was a young boy how we always used to go into the woods around our home to cut
down our Christmas tree. There always seemed to be the perfect pine just waiting
for us to cut down and decorate with happy hearts.
One year, though, when
I was no more than five years old I was allowed to go on the tree hunt. As we
hiked through the woods I saw probably the ugliest, most lopsided, and scraggly
pine tree ever. To my five year old heart, however, it seemed like a great
choice.
I can remember my Dad
cutting it down over my brothers’ protests and my Mom decorating the weak,
sagging limbs as best she could. I still have an old picture of me and my
brother standing in front of the world’s ugliest Christmas tree.
What warms my heart
about this memory is that my Mom and Dad didn’t mind if the tree didn’t look
good or decorate up nicely. They only cared that I loved it and wanted it for
our tree.
They knew that the true
meaning of Christmas didn’t come from the lights, decorations, or presents. They
knew the true meaning of Christmas came from the love and joy we shared with
each other and the love that God had for each and everyone of us.
These days my tree is
artificial and I smile when I look in the woods and think of all the ugly,
little Christmas trees I am saving by having it.
The love and joy I
share with my family and everyone else remains the same, though, at Christmas
time and all through the year. It is a glorious gift from God that keeps on
giving and giving and giving.
It is like John
Greenleaf Whittier once wrote: "Somehow not only for Christmas but all the long
year through, the joy that you give others is the joy that comes back to you."
Merry Christmas to you.
May your tree always be full of light and your heart always be full of love.
By:
Joseph J. Mazzella
