A Christmas Piece

I hollowed out a place in the living room for the Christmas tree.

"Hollowed out" may seem an exaggerated way to describe moving a chair into the back bedroom, but I emptied a space to make room for something else to come in — and that's hollowing out.

The manger in which Mary and Joseph laid the new born baby may not have been the wooden holder we so often see in creche sets. As the stable may have been, in part at least, a cave, so the manger may have been a hollowed out rock.

The Christmas tree I bought has a very crooked trunk. Getting it to stay upright in the stand is going to be a real problem. But the outer shape is excellent, so once we have mastered the stand, it should be just right.

I bought the tree at my favorite nursery because they keep them in good condition there, each in its own bucket of water. It is important to me that I get one whose needles will last through the first week in January.

Actually, I don't keep the tree up through the 12 days of Christmas just for religious purposes — although January 6 is when the church traditionally celebrates the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to the infant Jesus. The Feast of Lights or Epiphany it is called, the statement that He is the Light to the whole world, the gentile as well as the Jew.

No, I would keep my tree up for-ever if it could stay fresh and green that long. My living room is totally transformed by the addition of a Christmas tree.

What is so special about a Christmas tree?

Perhaps it's the ornaments; many of mine bring special memories of the persons who made them or the years they were added to the tree. Perhaps it's the smell of the pine, that wonderful, fresh smell of out-of-doors come inside.

Or perhaps it is the lights.

The coming of Christ into the world throws a sharp light on that world, outlining in stark detail all its frailties — but chasing away the darkness and showing the way.

The coming of the Christmas tree transforms my living room. The coming of Jesus transforms y life.

But I had to move enough stuff out of the living room to make room for the tree — and out of my life to make room for Him to come in.