The Tale of a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree!

Christmas is one of our favorite times of year and it has nothing to do with presents! I don't have to deal with the dreaded "I-Want-i-tis" that often appears this time of year. Since we have no commercial T.V. of any kind and the "Toy Catalogs" go straight to the burn pile, my children have never suffered from that disease. In fact, it is not unusual to have to pump them for a list of things they might like.

Traditions are a big part of our celebration...along with friends, fellowship and food (I'm a southern woman...did you expect different?). We began decorating our home after Thanksgiving and decided to postpone the tree for a week or so. I was worried about getting a tree.....with this valley we are in I just didn't know if I could afford one. I had already prepared the boys that this Christmas would be "slim pickins" as Grandma used to say. But I assured them that there would be plenty of good food, traditions and time together with each other. They were fine with that. Fortunately my kids are not very materially minded :) But a tree.....

We headed to the tree lot last Monday. I had $25 in my pocket but really needed to get a few things at the grocery store. I prayed....a lot! In previous years trees were $40 and up....I had seen the $25 table top trees....pretty awful...so I prayed some more! When we got there we noticed that their sign said trees from "$20 and up". The previous day that sign read "$25 and up". I prayed... again.

I asked where the $20 trees were and they showed us some trees leaning against two racks. We picked one up....not even 5 feet tall and pretty sad. I sent the older boys off scouting with the admonition that we would have to check prices. Elijah stayed with me. As we walked around the last rack, Elijah told me he saw a pretty tree laying down. I asked how he knew it was pretty if it was laying down and he told me he could just tell. The gentleman that worked there picked it up and held it out for us....a good 10 feet tall, a little thin with a bare spot or two - but pretty. The gentleman called it a "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree". This had meaning for me but not my boys since they hadn't seen the movie. I like that movie. You don't see things like that anymore....I love how it ends with the reading of scripture..rent it this season.

I called the older boys over and we discussed the tree - thin was good for where we wanted to put the tree - the bare spots could go against the stairs....we asked how much and I held my breath......."I'd let it go for $15" he announced. Yes.... I said FIFTEEN DOLLARS!!! Did I mention that I had prayed? I happily forked over the money, made a run to the grocery store and we headed home.

We were amazed at God's provision. We are still amazed! Has anyone ever heard of a $15 Christmas tree? We had to cut it off at both ends to get it to fit our 9 foot ceilings. The holes were a wee bit larger than we realized after the limbs warmed up and dropped a little but we love our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. Here is our tree in the stand before decorating:



And after we spent the afternoon stringing lights, eating homemade Christmas cookies, hanging ornaments, listening to wonderful hymns and Christmas carols, sipping eggnog and having a generally wonderful time....it looked like this:



It was a wonderful day with my four boys. This may turn out to be our most favorite tree ever because we see it as a gift from Father. Once again, we have seen Father reach down to provide beyond our most basic needs....he provided the desire of our hearts. We are so very thankful!

Now we are off to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas movie so that my boys will understand what a Charlie Brown tree is, how beautiful it became and be reminded that the REAL meaning of Christmas lies not in trees or in presents but in the little baby, born crucified, that we may live... Jesus the Christ, our Messiah.