December 3, 2023 The Tree is up.

Snow fluttered in the sky and the world grew colder by the minute. A winter storm shook the walls and my body felt a shiver pulse through. 

Then my daughter smiled and stared at the frozen world. “It’s snowing Dad, time to set up the Christmas Tree,” the energy in her voice changed my mood in a matter of seconds.

The snow turned to rain and the world was white no more. None of that mattered though. My kid and her boyfriend arrived, glowing with excitement. My heart warmed at the site and we brought out the tree. 

The Christmas tree was covered in fake snow and the white fleck scattered everywhere. It would be the only snow we could see, but was better than nothing. In reality the tree was about the spirit of Christmas.

A spirit that was alive and well.

Many times at Christmas I feel like a scrooge, or a grinch. It is a time that can be so depressing, the days are short and the clouds hover ominously over the valley floor. My seventeen-year-old daughter lit up our home with her smile as her and he boyfriend set up the tree. This was one of the earlier days we’ve set up our Christmas Tree and it filled our home with joy. 

Memopries of Christmases past flowed through my brain. It wasn’t that long ago Marijke still believed in Santa Claus, still believed in Elf On The Shelf. Now her beleif is deeper, different. She believes in the power of Christmas. I feel gratitude when I see the smile on their faces. 

The tree itself is only a part of the symbolism. Then came all the decorations. So many of our decorations have hung off the tree every year. To my wife it’s chaos, but to me it is symbolic of all the years of Christmas past. There are decorations from when I was a young man of 19 years-old. There is the shuttlecraft from Star Trek that I got as a gift when I was only twety-three. We all got a chuckle when we found the decorations with Marijke’s picture at age ten. Home made decorations that say I Love You Daddy. 

It warmed my heart and filled the room with love.

When it was done we took a selfie and had a laugh. This year we didn’t even try to get the cats in the photo shoot. Somehow they knew to hide. 

Time keeps flowing on. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.