Andrew

Andrew
Photo Courtesy of Scott Kirk Photography

Sunday, November 28, 2010

O CHRISTMAS TREE

I've been dreading this day.  This is the day I usually get the tree out of the box and begin my annual decorating of the house for Christmas.  Once my Thanksgiving guests are gone, I know it is time to prepare my house for "The most wonderful time of the year."  However, as you can imagine, the spirit of Christmas seems to have flown from my house.  I feel rather like Ebenezer Scrooge this year.  So, borrowing from Dickens, "Bah! Humbug!"
       I really can't get into the mood for Christmas.  My sadness cloud returned Friday and it has settled in, just as the fog did this morning.  Other houses in town are lit from foundation to peak, but I'm thinking that our house may remain dark this year.  The kids asked if I was going to put a tree up and I said yes.  However, today, I'm rethinking this. 
       Our tree looks the same every year.  It is a memory tree.  We have ornaments representing different times of our lives, beginning with our first Christmas together eighteen years ago.  One ornament is made from the napkins from our wedding reception.  Others remind us of wonderful family trips.  Then there is Andrew's baby ornament--his first Christmas.  There are football ornaments--at least one for each of the boys.  Then there is Amanda as a Bulldog cheerleader.  There are also tractor ornaments--a green one for Billy and a red one for Andrew.  One of our newest additions is a grandparents ornament.  Oh, so many memories. 
       On Friday, our family did decorate a tree.  Bill and I found a little tree to put in the container we've kept flowers in this summer and fall at Andrew's grave.  Clint, Ashley, and Amanda placed the solar powered Christmas lights around this little tree and we took it to the cemetery.  We discovered that the city plows the roads in and around the cemetery, so it was easier to traverse the snow to visit my son than originally thought.  When we arrived, we realized someone had already been there.  Whoever it was had gently swept away the snow on Andrew's stone. Together, we decorated our youngest's grave for the Christmas season.  That little tree covered in snow and in Christmas lights really is beautiful, but I'm sure if someone is walking around the cemetery around dusk, he or she may be a bit startled to see flashing lights coming from the direction of Andrew's grave.
        So, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we did all the decorating that I really wanted to do.  And with the help of those little solar Christmas lights, all who are around Andrew will be able to enjoy the glow of his little Christmas tree. 


O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee!
Thou bidst us true and faithful be,
And trust in God unchangingly.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee! !"
 


~Andrew's Mom

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