Sipping hot chocolate, the dog on your lap, listening to caroling on the radio, as well as telling the kids holiday stories while looking with delight at the sparkling Christmas tree. It’s a picture we all cherish around the holidays.
If one thing symbolizes the love, charity, and gratitude of the holidays, it’s a Christmas tree. The lights represent the light the Christ shone on the world. The star atop the tree is for guiding the wise men to the baby Jesus.
The symbolism doesn’t stop there. Do you know the candy cane is red thanks to holly berries? The holly is evergreen, symbolizing eternal love. Its berries symbolize the blood the Christ shed for mankind’s sins. The fir and spruce trees commonly used as Christmas trees symbolize the never-dying love of God.
Why does it have to end? We know we can’t have brightly wrapped boxes year round. It would make Christmas just another day. But why can’t we still see that sparkling Christmas tree with its bright tinsel and twinkling lights? Wait. What? Who says it has to end?
Reason One Christmas Trees Should Be Year Round
Many homeowners put clear Christmas tree lights around plants in their homes. “Oh, but it brightens up that dark corner,” they say.
Homeowners also leave Christmas lights around the outlines of the deck, the supports of the front porch, or even the windows. “I just didn’t feel like getting the ladder out again to take them down,” they say.
Some homeowners leave their Christmas lights up outlining the staircase year round. The children love the lights as a night light when they need to potty. For other children, it keeps the ghost of Christmas Yet To Come away.
Families seeking light should leave their pre lit Christmas trees in place year round. The decorations could be boxed up, but the lights mean a festive atmosphere, illuminated dark corners, and they present a cheerful, warm aura to family and visitors.
Reason Two Christmas Trees Should Be Year Round
They symbolism of the tree surpasses man-made holidays. The Tree of Life goes back millions of years to prehistoric cave drawings. It symbolizes the everlasting bond between the All That Is and His creations.
At the time of the Winter Solstice, we gather the fruits of our labors from the spring, summer, and fall. These fruits will get us through a dark, cold winter. The tree reminds us, with its evergreen foliage, that light will come to the world again. Life will renew itself. Beauty and love will fill the world once again.
Seriously, why would anyone pack away the faith in that reminder?
Reason Three Christmas Trees Should Be Year Round
A tree outside the house lives year round. It dons its foliage, flowers in season, and shades us for three seasons. The point remains that the tree is there. In a world in which homeowners place symbolic potted trees around the house, why not a Christmas tree?
The good news is that, unlike the tree outdoors, a lighted, festive tree won’t irritate the body with pollen. It won’t lose its leaves in the gutters, which will require cleaning. It won’t share the pests who call it home with the family. It won’t shelter squirrels who slip under the eaves to make homes in your attic.
Want to have spring, summer, and fall celebrations out on the deck or in the outdoor room? Move the lit tree onto the deck or the outdoor room. It will provide cheer and elegance to the festivities. The kids will appreciate the happiness reminiscent in Christmas trees. The adults will feel the content we read about in the beginning of the article.
A season might not be right for hot chocolate, but any season is right for a tree. Even better, any season is right for a brightly lit, cheerful Christmas tree.
