Previously: Restart
Shortly after we moved into our current house, we decided that we needed a new Christmas tree. Our previous tree was beginning to show wear and look pretty thin, so we assessed our options for a replacement. As we did so, my wife suggested that we get a pre-lit tree, one that came with lights already strung around it. That appealed to me, as it would be less work when setting it up, so I agreed.
For the first few years, this tree was a marked improvement. Rather than calling for us to place each branch on individually, it came in three sections that needed to be inserted into one another, and the strands of lights plugged into each other in similar fashion. This greatly reduced the time it took to set up, and our family could move to the ornament phase in short order. We were quite pleased with our purchase.
And then the downside of a pre-lit tree began to assert itself. One year, when I plugged in the lights, a portion of the bottom remained dark. I think we just solved this problem by having it face the wall.
That was fine for a year or two, before an entire section just refused to light up at all. My solution was to buy another box of lights to make up for it.
It turns out that not every strand of “white” lights is the same kind of “white.” Some have more of a yellow tint, while others are a bright LED. I discovered this when the new lights didn’t match the others already on the tree. But it was a good enough fix for the moment.
During a subsequent Christmas season, yet another strand burned out, and I was back to the store. This also turned out not to match the other lights on the tree. And when the rest of the bottom portion finally gave up completely, a third strand that didn’t match either of the others replaced it.
The result was what I affectionately called a Frankentree: yellow lights around the top, bold LED lights around the middle, and softer white around the bottom.
The first year that we had the three different kinds up, my wife suggested that we just go buy two or three strands of the exact same kind and replace them all. My daughter responded by pointing out that the weird tree matched our weird family, and so the Frankentree was allowed to stay. It even returned for a few more seasons before becoming a casualty of a basement flood this past year.
This year we have a brand new tree with matching lights from top to bottom. It looks nice and we’re all happy with it.
But that old mismatched tree will always have a place in my heart as a symbol not only of “our weird family,” but the imperfections that I’ve come to accept and even love about this time of year.
It’s been a long journey to do so, but I like to give credit to our Frankentree for playing a part in teaching me what peace feels like.
If you enjoyed this reflection, check out my Advent book, Four Weeks: Reflections for Advent.
Jeffrey A. Nelson 