As they walked through the woods not too
far from Grandpa’s cottage, Edward and his son; Daniel, sought out the perfect spruce
to make for a grand Christmas tree.
Joana, Daniel’s little sister scuttled along, touching trees here and
there. According to her, their quest for a tree required a “feminine touch” to
make it the perfect pick. Lisa had given her nod of approval to the little girl’s request to go with them amidst the baking
and cooking typical of moms during Christmas.
Pointing his children in the direction of a
tree, resplendent among others they had seen, Edward said “Now, that’s a nice
one right there”. In the quavering voice of a five year old running to catch up with her
brother, Joana replied, “It’s so beautiful, daddy”.
They got the tree down in
no time seeing that they weren’t going for something too big anyway. As they
sang and marched back home, Lisa and her mom knew their search paid off when
all three voices drew nearer from a distance with the tree’s top leaving a
trail in the snow covered landscape around their home.
“Mommy! Mommy! Dad found a perfect one!”
said Joana as Daniel helped his dad set the tree up beside the fireplace. Then
handing a little branch from the tree to Eunice, she said “I got this for you Grandma”. As she
hugged her, Titus looked at his wife and said “now that’s some loving we all
need during Christmas” with a baritone voice that got Lisa and Edward laughing
as Eunice rolled her eyes and said “oh please!”.
As she took her seat on Titus’
laps, Joana asked “will you tell us a Christmas story?” “Sure thing” he
replied. “Christmas is about the journey between the two trees” he added.
“Really? But daddy only cut one tree” said Joana as she started off to go join Daniel who had also been called by Edward from the garage to get the
decorations in for the tree.
“Journey? Two trees? Now that’s a first.
Where do you get these stories from anyway?” asked Lisa as she set some oats on
the table before her dad and took a seat briefly beside him before attending to
the cookies in the oven. “Your daughter’s just like you, you know; inquisitive
and always eager to learn.” Then with a smile she was rather familiar with, he
added “I get them from there as always” pointing to the Bible sitting on the
side table near her couch. Reading the look on her face, he said “ok, since you
asked, I’ll explain to you how Christmas is about the journey between the two
trees”.
“When God placed man in the Garden of Eden,
he gave the instruction that they should not eat of the fruit of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil but they did and man fell. That tree became the
start off point for man’s journey to destruction. God in his mercies decided to
put another tree in place so that anyone who eats from this tree would not die
but live eternally. That second tree is the Cross at Calvary. Whoever accepts
and also eats; like we literally do at the Communion table, of the “fruit” of
the cross; would be spared from death and destruction.”
“Hmmm, interesting…”
said Lisa as she thought to herself how this was connected to Christmas. As
though to answer her thoughts, he went on to say “many celebrate Christmas with the
giving and receiving of gifts, as they hang decorations on a tree beneath which
are gifts. But, not a few of those opening the gifts under the tree have opened
their hearts to the greatest gift; God’s gift to the world, who was born to be hung
on a tree.”
“That’s quite a way to see Christmas, Dad” she
said as she felt the bowl to know the warmth of his meal. Motioning with his
hands that she not bother too much about it, he continued saying “there’s quite
a lot of travelling this time of the year. How I would that more people were on the way; The Way of Life. He’s the
reason for the season you know...”
“Thanks Dad”, she said as she made towards
the oven to check on the cookies. Taking a glimpse through the window blinds,
she said “well, your listeners are on their way back”. Titus giggled like a grandpa
would and took another spoon of his meal as Joana and Daniel walked in with
their father, carrying boxes as they headed towards the tree. Lisa smiled as she
wondered what creative way her dad would convey the story to these young minds. “Mom, Your meal is ready” she said.
“Thanks honey” replied Eunice as she prepared to put aside her knitting to rise
from the rocking chair on the porch.
-'Bayor
(Actual Post Date: January 01.01.14)
