A Cup of Comfort Book of Christmas Prayer by Susan B. Townsend

Author:Susan B. Townsend
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: epub, ebook
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2009-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

December 20

The Christmas Story Tree

My grandmother pulled a nativity ornament out of a box. “Who is this?” she asked.

“Baby Jesus.” I answered, delighted as any four-year-old who knew the right answer.

“Now say a Bible verse that goes along with it.”

“They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph,” I replied. “And there was the baby, lying in the manger. Luke 2:16”

My grandmother placed the resin ornament in my hands. “Good, now you can hang it on the tree.”

I believed that if I fell or dropped it, I might hurt the Baby Jesus, so I walked carefully to the tree and hung it on the best limb a child could find.

Our Christmas Story Tree was a tradition passed down from long ago. My grandmother taught me the Christmas story through the special tree ornaments that had been made or inherited from past generations. Making new ornaments was a family project done on a Saturday after the Thanksgiving holiday. When we went out to shop for Christmas, she would remind us to keep our eyes open for any religious ornaments available. When I was small, those items were rare, and if we did find a display, many times they weren't available for purchase.

Pine cone photo frames, craft sticks, and paper snowflakes adorned the tree as I graduated from elementary school to middle school. My mother dated each one and kept them protected from the elements when they were packed away after the season.

Not only did my family hang my school ornaments, but also those collected to represent the special times of our lives. For example, my grandfather bought an ornament while on a trip in Florida. He said he purchased it because he thought the seashell was cute, but we knew the real reason. He never wanted to forget how lonely or homesick he was without my grandmother. For the rest of their lives together, he never took another trip without her by his side.

When I became a teenager and my grandmother's health began to fail, it was my mother's turn to pull each fragile ornament from its box. As each one emerged, I recited a Bible verse and placed it on the tree. My mother joined my grandmother on the couch to oversee the tradition. When I forgot the proper wording of a verse, my grandmother would either call my grandfather, a pastor for more than forty years, or open the Bible and ask me to look it up and read it aloud.

By the time I reached eighteen, religious ornaments were becoming more popular, and my family purchased nativities, angels, crosses, and other symbols of the Christian faith. Each year, as our tree became more decorated, my knowledge of the scripture pertaining to the Christmas Story grew.

At twenty-three, I became a mother and I realized the significance of our Christmas Story Tree. I wanted my oldest son, Robert, to understand the real reason we celebrate Christmas. As soon as he could understand, I introduced him to our Christmas Story Tree and began asking him the same questions my grandmother had asked me.

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