Gazing at a Christmas tree can be therapeutic. Wondering at the stories behind the ornaments can be uplifting. This is when creativity can shine like the strings of lights. Imagine for yourself backgrounds for the charms hung all about. Connect their stories like stars in the night. There is joy in a story, particularly at Christmastime.
The brightest star of your story can be the one on top of your tree. Now some trees do use angels, but in the ancient Near East, of which Israel was part, angels and stars were often equated. For example, the seven stars Jesus holds in the book of Revelation. At the end of chapter 1, we’re told the stars symbolize angels.
Perhaps the star atop our tree could be Gabriel, the announcer of the virgin birth in Luke?
Go through the ornaments of your tree, in any order you’d like, skipping any you want, making connections by whim if you’re so inclined. The point is having fun, making your own Christmas story, forming your own Christmas memory.
There’s a Christmas song that goes “we’ll tell scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.” The only ghost story about Christmas I know of is A Christmas Carol, so let’s add to that canon or build our own.
Who knows what classic tale you could make from candy canes, snowmen, Darth Vader, and Jigglypuff? Or maybe a gingerbread house, a collegiate pennant, the Grinch, and the TARDIS? Or what if your tree is more classic with colored balls and tinsel? Well if stars can be angels, perhaps balls can be planets, and tinsel the gases of deep space.
Can you tell I already have an idea of what I’d like to write about? Now go ahead and gaze at your tree. Let the joy of creativity fill your heart, like it did when you were a child. Christmas is for kids, but that’s a good thing!
A contemporary log of fragmentary pleasures 