What your Christmas tree says about you

I’m starting to feel itchy about getting our tree up. The social media influencers have been decorating for Christmas since 12:0am on November 1st and while I think that is a little nutty I do find myself wanting to get started earlier in the last few years.

I was, and still am to a certain extent, an Advent purist. I even own an (outdated) website dedicated to the observence of the penitential season of Advent called ) O Night Divine. That website was such a labor of love for me and I was helped so generously by some many people.

As time as moved on and schedules have become insane I’ve had to lift my restrictions on decorating and preparing. I used to wait until the O Antiphons were upon us, December 17th.

From the USCCB website.

The Roman Church has been singing the "O" Antiphons since at least the eighth century. They are the antiphons that accompany the Magnificat canticle of Evening Prayer from December 17-23. They are a magnificent theology that uses ancient biblical imagery drawn from the messianic hopes of the Old Testament to proclaim the coming Christ as the fulfillment not only of Old Testament hopes, but present ones as well. Their repeated use of the imperative "Come!" embodies the longing of all for the Divine Messiah.

This is a lovely example of their being sung.

I am glad I held out as long as I did because to ignore Advent is to truly rob yourself of some serious beauty and fruitful spiritual progress. However once you have kids who come and go from college, have jobs and many parish commitments you find yourself staring at the calendar and just selecting the best day to get help getting those boxes down from the attic and getting everyone together to put up the tree.

I have been thinking about our tree lately, occasioned by watching some of those influencers (bless their hearts) erect these enormous, beautiful, monuments to materialism all over their homes. I admit we have a small kitchen tree for which I usually bake gingerbread ornaments but one year I just covered in red bows because I was tired of baking.

I think our tree is a reflection of the life we’ve lived and I grew up in culture where your tree was more of a scrapbook of your life than a reflection of current trends in color or styles.