The Evergreen....

Here are some pics of our first Christmas tree and nativity crib…

We bought our first Christmas tree this month after a lot of loitering around in commercial street to get the best tree which would be just right for the house. Then we convinced ourselves that this can be used at least for 5 – 8 years and if you divide the cost of so many years its pittance… ( secretly I wish I could buy a tree every year).What I love the best is the decorating part, there is so much variety in the market, starting from drums, stockings, candy canes, garlands, ornaments, bells, stars, snowflakes, Santa Claus caps, mistletoe, colored figs, blinking lights and so much more.. just the joy of walking into a Christmas shop and seeing all the decorations variants is pleasure by itself..It is not necessary to always buy decorations, any thing ornamental, desired, colorful , favorite objects, photo's of loved ones, children's craft etc can be hung on the tree.

Families have various traditions and many stories related to the tree. This year at my Mom’s place she had put up her Christmas tree on the verandah only to discover the tree on the floor in the morning. The guilty here is our pet dog Bruno who just could not understand why the lights on the tree were blinking at him and he did the only thing he knew, attacked the lights square and center, now he is sure to be locked up for the whole christmas season..

The Evergreen tree is associated with a pagan festival in celebration of hope and life during the cold days of winter solstice. Christmas also is based on the same virtues where the birth of the baby boy is seen as a sign of hope for mankind. Slowly the evergreen tree ritual was associated with Christmas celebration. Actually Christmas day itself is not recorded in the scriptures or in apostlic writings, most people believe that Christ was born during the spring time.The early church is said to have adopted the " birthday" of the pagan sun - god Mitra to celebrate the birth of Christ. Actually Christmas was banned in certain states of Amercia like Massachusetts as it was called a pagan festival.

Whether the origin is pagan or not, I think it is the mood of Christmas which is important. The festival is about happiness , cheer and hope, celebrating it with loved ones the generosity and the warm hearted feeling is what it makes this special..