Rocking Around The Christmas Tree

There’s something about Christmas that I can’t help but love. I think being a little girl in Canada had something to do with it. At school, with friends, in the neighborhood, I was constantly surrounded with the beautiful spirit of the season. I remember on some winter nights, Dad would drive us around the block looking at all the houses’ different decorations. The wreaths at the doors, the mistletoes (kiss-kiss), Santa and his reindeer, the chimney and the stockings, but more than anything, I remember Christmas from Christmas Trees…

Since we don’t actually celebrate Christmas, I asked Nan if I could help her decorate her tree this year. And she was of course delighted. She said she usually sets it up on December 1st, but after spending a day in Beirut during the Eid Vacation, she noticed that the capital was all ready for Christmas. So yesterday and the day before, we spent hours setting up and decorating the tree. And I never realized how much thought and time goes into Christmas tree decorations!

The tree Nan had, needed to be built. She took it out of a cardboard box with a tripod base and several metallic branches. We spent a good time separating the leaves of each branch from each other and then attaching them to the main pole. After that, we took out the lights (some colored, some white, some blue) and danced around the tree, wrapping it in shimmering lights. Then, we took out several boxes filled with decorations, balls, bells, and angels. We placed them all on the tree, topped with the Christmas Star. I asked Nan what the star represented, and she said it represented the star which hung over the manger in which Jesus was born. Which lead us to the cave…

Under the tree, Nan creatively placed the cardboard boxes that the tree and decorations had been put in, and placed several big brown cloths on top of them. And right under the tree on top of the center box, she positioned a little cave, the cave that Jesus was born in. She sprinkled bits of grass around the cave and cloths, which was a brilliant final touch to that little corner of Christmas in her living room :-)