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Pre-lighted Christmas tree is a 'bright' idea
___Do you ever hear about a new invention, and it takes awhile to figure out if you think it's a good idea or not?
___Well, it took me maybe 0.339 seconds to decide the newest Christmas invention is an excellent idea.
___It's a Christmas tree with built-in lights. Joanna's sister Janis and our friends, Mark and Alison, each got these newfangled trees, with lights on the branches.
___Now, on one level, I'm unabashedly old-fashioned where Christmas trees are concerned. When I think about Christmas, I smell a fresh-cut fir tree, the living room adornment of choice when I was a kid.
___But somewhere along the way, allergies and economics won out, and we've had a "fake" Christmas tree for years.
___Once, when the girls were little, we tried a "real" tree. I think Lindsay and/or Molly, not to mention their daddy, walked around with stopped-up noses for most of the Christmas season. Then, after New Year's, we took the tree to the city beautification project, where it went from being a tree to mulch in a nanosecond.
___But now "they" make these trees with built-in lights. I'll be the first to admit I haven't checked out the economics (and I might get sticker shock if I did) but a pre-lit Christmas tree sounds like a bright idea.
___That's because stringing lights is the most noxious task of preparing home and hearth for the holidays. Lights, by nature, get tangled up.
___Oh, I know. That can be fixed. A couple of years ago, I decided to fix the light-tangling problem by wrapping all our strings of lights around cardboard dividers. But eventually the lights slid off the cardboard, got tangled up anyway, and I felt like the Christmas Dork.
___Lights outside are just as problematic. Especially if you're (a) afraid of heights and (b) afraid of electrocution. Doesn't describe anyone around here, of course, but if you know of someone who has that problem, he might often think of himself as the Christmas Dork.
___Naturally, some inventor next will come out with a pre-decorated tree, complete with ornaments, tinsel and your choice of an angel or a star on top.
___Christmas is a holy season, and in theological terms, a pre-decorated tree would be Going Too Far. That's because, besides photo albums, Christmas ornaments are about the most personalized (Is "family-ized" a word?) items a family can own.
___ I can look at our tree and remember wonderful Christmases past--ornaments Lindsay and Molly made in Sunday School and GAs, ornaments we bought for them, a cross-stitch angel Jo made.
___They remind me of the most terrific gift, next to Jesus, a guy could ever hope to receive--a precious wife and wonderful children.
The Baptist Standard
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