Celebrating the Holidays in 2020

On Monday, Cheryl said, “We’re getting a tree today.”
I looked at her and said, “Ok….  When?”

Monday is usually my day off, but I’d already had three zoom meetings and 1 phone call– and two of those were surprises I’d forgotten to put on my calendar. All I really wanted to do was crawl into bed and try for a do-over with the day. But Cheryl wanted a Christmas tree.

“Well, I’ve got clients until 2.”
“I’ve got a meeting at 2.”
“I’ve got another client at 4.”
“So, it sounds like…”
“We get the tree at 3p. We can do it. Be ready.”

I sighed. This was not what I had planned for the day. And this is not how we usually get a tree. There is usually measuring. And preparing. And hot cocoa. And holiday music. But this is the way it had to be this year.

At 3p, I rushed to find shoes. Find a coat. Remember my mask. (I at least had a Christmas themed mask.) And off we went…driving into the country to a favorite little farm stand that sells little Christmas trees. Cheryl picked out the best one that would fit in less than 5 minutes. It took the attendant longer to get his chain saw started to trim off the top and bottom. And back in the car we were– rushing home. Cheryl ran upstairs to get ready for her session. I looked at the tree in the back of the car and thought about how best to do this solo.

I found a tree stand. I then broke the tree stand. I then MacGyvered the tree stand. I put the tree up… and it was straight…and Cheryl was happy. I went to bed because I really wasn’t feeling well. I woke up a few hours later and came downstairs to find the tree leaning against the wall and our mantle.

“The tree started to fall– so I just leaned it up against the wall. I didn’t want to wake you.”

And so, I’ve ordered a new deluxe tree stand… it should arrive by Friday. Until then, the little tree is resting in the broken stand on our little table, leaning against the wall and the mantle place. Cheryl and I sat on our couch this morning and just looked at it.  Bare. No decorations. Leaning. And we decided, we kind of like it just the way it is.  It is the perfect Christmas tree for this year…this difficult, challenging, year. It isn’t the best tree. It isn’t straight. It isn’t even decorated yet. But it’s doing its best. And it looks good enough. And that’s the way we feel right now. About all of our holiday rituals and decorations and celebrations. It isn’t what we’d normally do. But it’s the best we can do. And it’s good enough.

Happy Holidays.

Rev. Craig