The Christmas Tree Crash
And other things that did not work in 2020
Monday night I was awakened not by the sound of reindeer on the roof but rather our 7 foot Christmas tree, fully decorated with glass ornaments, as it crashed to the floor. Ouch. I hurried out of bed to see what was the matter. As I flipped on the lights I saw our tree lying on the floor, glass shards all around. I’ve put up dozens of Christmas trees in my life, but this was the first time I had one come crashing down. None of our pets were to blame either. They were all nestled in their beds.
I removed all the ornaments, many thankfully not broken. I took off the six strands of lights, and swept up the glass from the ornaments that didn’t survive the fall. The floor was wet from spilled tree water. I wrestled the tree out to the deck, deciding to deal with it in the morning.
The next day, I put the tree back in the stand, repositioned it, tightened the screws, and put the white twinkle lights back on. No ornaments this time, because I did not trust this tree. By afternoon, it was on the ground again.
As I stared at the tree that just would stand up, it occurred to me that is the perfect metaphor for 2020. No matter how hard we’ve tried, it is not business as usual. Trees don’t stand, we can’t get together with loved ones for the holidays without substantial risk, our work lives are remote and online, school is mainly not in classrooms, the grocery store has aisle arrows directing our flow, and anxiety and fear have played dominant roles for many of us.
As I looked at the fallen tree, I made a decision. That tree, like this year, was not going to control everything. There was still a lot I could direct, and it was time to get unstuck. So, I cut the the tree in half, and put the top 3' in a small Christmas tree stand, and put it on the counter in the kitchen. It would be our Christmas Cookie Tree. A tradition in my husband’s family is to make sugar cookies each Christmas, cutting a small hole in the top of the cookie before baking, allowing us to hang them like ornaments on the tree. We decorate the cookies with icing and sprinkles before hanging.
And the rest of the tree? Garland.
