Ten Lords A-Leaping

Hard to believe that, technically, it's still Christmas for two more days.

I didn't grow up in a liturgical church; I came late to the idea of a church calendar with such seasons as Advent, Lent, and those that end with '-tide'.  But My Sweet Baboo did, and he quickly made me aware of such things...when I began dismantling Our First Christmas Tree on Our First New Year's Day Together 31 years ago.  I saw the light, brothers and sisters, and I have been a proponent of celebrating Advent and THEN Christmas ever since.

But, as I have lamented on previous posts and will no doubt lament on future posts, life in the US does not lend itself to celebration of the 12 Days of Christmas.  So I took all the decorations off the tree yesterday, when I had time, and was rather shocked to see the tree abandoned in the side yard when I came home from work today.  I was perfectly willing to leave it as a rather large fragrant bouquet in its stand in the living room until we could haul it to the community mulch pile, but MSB was tired of trying to keep the kitty out of it, so into the yard it went.

There is very little associated with the holiday more pitiful than the discarded tree laying around.

We had a fresh cut tree this year, since we didn't travel as we usually do.  It came from the tree farm that grows Charlie Brown trees, and it had a crooked trunk and two peaks...the largest of which was well off from the center.  But a little love did wonders and I really enjoyed it for the 2.5 weeks it was up.

But, unlike an artificial tree which can be packed away and consigned to the attic, something must be done with the fresh tree.  So, for the moment, it's flopped all forlorn in the side front yard.

And, me being me, I started looking for Spiritual Applications from the sight.

So I have you, my dear readers, all primed for some lovely bit of wisdom pertaining to the sight of the tree that I'd carefully lit and decorated and enjoyed as the focal point of my living room drying out in the chilly winter sunshine.

Except my revelation is really very trite and very lame...our society's substitute celebration  of the birth of Christ is fun while it lasts, but in the end...it dries up.  It is Christ Himself that is the ever-increasing glory, and if we miss that in the tree and lights and presents and holiday busy-ness, we really have nothing.

So, get a mental picture of ten stately proper society gents doing grande jetes  because God came to live amongst us, and have a merry last two days of Christmas.