It Started With a Christmas Tree
I just finished decorating our Christmas tree, and it looks beautiful. My husband and I debated whether we even wanted one this year. After all, our daughter is now all grown up and has a home and husband of her own.
Our first Christmas tree was a table top plastic tree that we purchased two days before Christmas, 28 years ago. Having come from India originally, I had no idea about how to celebrate Christmas. Until coming to this country, I had never seen snow, decorated a Christmas tree, or eaten cherry or apple pie. I didn’t know about Christmas carols and had never seen “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
When we first moved to the United States, we lived in Pennsylvania and were invited to a Christmas party at my husband’s friend’s house; that’s where I saw my first Christmas tree. It looked so beautiful with glittery ornaments and presents wrapped under it. I thought the whole thing was magical. And when I heard the song “White Christmas,” I fell completely under the spell of the song.
The next year, when I had my first child, and December rolled along, we decided we would celebrate Christmas. So we got a small plastic tree that we put on the coffee table and decorated it with a few strands of tinsel and shiny ornaments.
I guess we were cautiously entering this new territory of adopting the traditions of this country. We sang our daughter Christmas songs and loved watching the Christmas specials on TV with her.
When our daughter was in the sixth grade, she announced that she wanted a live Christmas tree. There, in front of the grocery store I saw lots of trees--but so expensive! In those days, just as some parents got carried away by the Cabbage Patch dolls, I got carried away and brought a very tall and expensive live cut tree home. After my daughter saw that, she said, “Mom, we were supposed to go to a tree farm and chop a tree for ourselves.” It is a good thing that my daughter, after a few years, had a change of heart and didn’t mind the plastic tree.
For the first few years, we made our own ornaments. I believe, making homemade ornaments is a mother-daughter bonding experience. While making these ornaments we played Christmas music and drank hot chocolate. We brought presents for each other and for our friends. We invited friends for Christmas parties where I served eggnog.
Adopting Christmas as a holiday tradition connected my family with the people of this country. My working at a religious school also helped me to understand the deeper meaning of Christmas. Celebrating Christmas festivities has allowed me to feel the joy of the season, the joy of giving and the joy of receiving. Celebrating this tradition with friends has allowed me to enjoy the richness of Christmas and the deeper understanding of the religious aspect of this event and the hope and faith that many families are experiencing.
The more joys you have, the better life is. The story of Christmas that is told in songs, movies and churches is a story of hope.
So as I look at this decorated tree, and celebrate the season in my own way, I wish everyone a very merry holiday.
