Oh Christmas Vine, Oh Chrismas Vine, How Lovely Are Your Branches

The rule is, there will be no opening of gifts until after we--that is, my husband and I--have had our coffee. Because it's still Christmas Eve morning, we can get away with such formalities. It also gives me time to get the cats and fish fed, the dog put out, the teeth brushed and...you get the picture.

The girls decided this year that they didn't want to put up the six foot, $205.00 Christmas tree. They chose, instead, a thin little tree of five feet, one we have named "The Christmas Vine." We actually DO sing "Oh Christmas Tree" to it, except we replace the word "tree" with "vine."

When I bought the Christmas Vine from Family Dollar for something like $17.50, the girls and I were living in an apartment. I was separated from my first husband. The girls were practically babies, and money was scarce. I had not yet met David, my current husband, and we were in harder times.

But when I took that tree out of the box, fluffed up the branches, added some lights and some homemade ornaments, something happened to that tree. It became ours. It has since grown roots in my heart, and so I've never wanted to get rid of it. It's part of our family history, a history of not much money but of perseverance, appreciation of little joys, and a memorial to the past.

I like that the girls didn't feel the need for the huge tree, that they wanted to hear about our less fortunate times, and that they are growing an understanding of where we are now because of those stories. They know we are not wealthy, but thank God, they have never known hunger. And they always have had a Christmas, usually more than one because of all our separate family celebrations. There is a benefit to being divorced--our children are spoiled at least three times at Christmas!

Not everyone can say this. I look at the wealth we have, the things we have been given so that we may give as well, and I say, WOW. We've come a long way from that little apartment. I've come a long way from living in a dilapidated rooming house back in my college days.

Our Christmas Vine is lovely, and our family is lovelier. May we all be able to turn our memories into trees and plant our gifts beneath them.