The tiny tree, deprived of the overload of decor that had strangled it to death.

Don't overbear your tree

Adminisk8or

12/11/2023

(In the voice of a young Macaulay Culkin) Yikes, I did it again! Yeah, I let another week slip... I'm not sure how, I feel like I am a more consistent person that that... oh well.

Over the past two weeks I've been to the car repair shop several times. The first one happened when my check engine light started flashing and my cylinders started misfiring. That was fun. And picking up my car was also fun because, for complicated reasons, I dropped it off several cities away from me- so I had to bike, take a train, take a bus and bike to get to it- and not only was it cold that day, but unusually humid- hence, it was twice as cold. And then our other car started having engine troubles, too, in between the first car's check engine light coming on. What good times, right?

Speaking of cars, I found myself in a rather comical facepalm-worthy situation the other night. The boys and I went out to soak at a hot springs, and it was great. After coming back, it had started snowing a fair deal, and the roads were slick. As I was dropping off my brother in law, we came across a truck who was stuck diagonally across the neighborhood road we were driving up. Seeing his situation we asked if he needed a hand, and before long, were were chaining him up to my hitch and I was pulling him up the road. It was only about a quarter mile or so of driving, but the first half of it really had me uneasy, because I was just struggling and could hardly get motion enough to keep momentum forward. As I neared the only turn we had to make, it hit me like a wall of bricks. Yep- I left my parking brake on. And sure enough, the rest of the tow up the road was a cinch!

I think probably one of the more insightful things I observed this week came when we decided to decorate our apartment. We honestly hadn't really planned on doing so, but to help brighten things up around here, we decided it couldn't hurt. As I pulled out the few boxes of decorations I have stored away, I came across a Christmas tree- about one foot tall and artificial. It's one I think I was given from one of my grandparent's collections of things they were getting rid of, and thought it would be a wast to see it go in the trash. As I pulled it out this year, I quickly remembered why it wasn't a very favorable decoration- it was kind of smooshed in, like any other artificial tree you've stored for a year- but it had an insane amount of tiny decorations and frills all over it, that spreading out the branches would've been quite the task. Even if you could spread the branches, all those decorations really made it look too trashy. I gave it a proper look over and thought, "jeez... maybe this thing really should've gone in the trash, after all". In fact, I was literally standing over the trash can, ready to deposit it, when I thought, "well... I mean maybe a few of these decorations are worth hanging onto. And while I'm at it, I may as well pull off the rest."

Before long, I had pulled every single decoration off of that tiny tree, and spread it's branches back out, and wouldn't you know it- suddenly, it didn't seem like so bad a tree. In fact, it looked kind of nice. With careful selectiveness and sparingness, I chose only about a dozen tiny decorations I thought added to the look, and the rest of them I threw away. I won't call it the nicest little tree you ever did see- but compared to what it looked like with all those tacky, overbearing ornaments, it was really a fine beauty!

I think that allegory can be applied a legion of ways, of course. But perhaps the most important one is priorities, I think. Have we adorned ourselves with so many tasks and things we brag about being busy with, that we have lost the original meaning of our endeavors? By dullifying and dismissing the more meaningful parts of our lives, are we putting on so much garnish around us that soon we are restrained, feel like we've lost ourselves, and that the thing we once were could never be again? Maybe that's a bit too poetic or even intellectual sounding, but I know I certainly have that problem. I keep adding things to my life- goods, habits and time-taking things- and some of them are good, but some of them have really restricted and restrained me, and have even detracted from the man I want to be- the better child deep inside of me- insomuch that some days I wonder what I'm really doing with my life.

But that's the magic of Christmas, and it's a magic that can happen every single day: Change. Redemption. New Beginnings. And it's too easy to see those words and be afraid of the commitment that accompanies them, but don't fear that. When you know you want and need change in your life, you'll never be perfect at achieving it; but if you want it enough, I believe it will come. And I hope that much is true for all of you out there- today, tomorrow, and 28 days from now!

Until next time, see ya!