My Christmas Tree

So here it is right in front of me. Standing tall, well…as tall as me, in its full decked glory. All decorated with tinsels and ornaments and glittering with a garland of lights. It lets me know its presence through its woody pine fragrance every time I pass by. And makes me feels happy every time I just cast a glance at it. Yes, that is my REAL Christmas tree!

When I was small we had a Christmas tree growing in our building compound that I used to help decorate. We lived in a three-storey building, with the tree as tall as the first storey. By the time I was in secondary school, this tree had grown to the full building height and stood majestically facing the busy main road. While earlier a few baubles and some ribbons and cotton were enough to make it look pretty, its extended height needed a person to climb up its strong branches to gain access and decorate it more. My father had also got a string of colourful lights put around it and every evening when the lights were switched on, it attracted the attention of residents and passers-by alike, making me feel proud of my possession.

So this year I wanted to enjoy a bit of the ‘real’ flavour and went ahead and splurged on a decent size Noble Fir tree. I was so excited I wanted to start decorating immediately but contained myself till the kids came back home from school. We then started with the decorations – the lights, the tinsels, the star on the top. After having putting up the last of the glittering balls, I realised that my tree still looked a bit empty and impersonal. That’s when I knew what I missed. Instead of running out to the shops to buy yet another box of artificial decor, I climbed up the ladder and brought out the children’s old art-work which is stored safely in my suitcase. Some of them more than seven years old, as they belong to my elder son when he was in Nursery school! When I got them all out, the boys ditched making their cards and ran over to pull out the colourful bits and pieces, giving out short squeals of excitement when they came across a much-loved piece of art! We chose the pieces that would go up on the tree, some for the main door and then I carefully put away the rest. I attached tiny strings to the ones meant to be hanged and in no time our Christmas tree was ready and in full bloom too!

Wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas!

January 2014
I am adding a few more lines to this post. Our Christmas tree has been with us for almost two months now and I feel sad as I ‘undress’ it. After all the joy that it gave us in this short span of time I was being just another selfish human ready to send the tree to the dump! Suddenly I have an idea. We have a large outdoor podium area in our building which is filled with well landscaped plants and trees. After taking out all the decorations I managed to lift up our tree and took it down to the podium area. There I see the gardener who I thought might ask me to take it right back. However with no exchange of words, language being our main barrier that kind man not only helped me carry the tree to a nice empty spot near the bushes but to my surprise also gently took the tree out from the pot and re-planted it outside in the open soil! Our tree got a new lease of life… at least for a few more months and that kind gesture reminded me of the goodness that still exists in this world!