Fake Trees and Real Ladders
Christmas traditions make Christmas joyful and meaningful. We plan for them and embrace them with our whole heart. We get excited about them, and they always turn out perfectly. Or maybe not.
A Christmas tradition almost ruined our marriage. Everybody loves a great Christmas tree. And each home has one that fits the family and personalities involved. Some trees have lots of glitter, some are elegant and gold, some have ornaments carefully created by little hands as each child grows. On our second Christmas, I wanted a real tree. I never had one growing up. However, a real tree needs water. I worked 15 hour days that December and expected my husband Bryce to water the tree. He didn’t.
You can see where this is going. After Christmas, we went to remove that lovely live tree - which was dead. Inches of pine needles fell to the carpet. I cried. We had been married 18 months, it had been a whirlwind of a year: college, gigs, minimum wage, and I was battling cancer. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Christmas traditions were to be joyful and celebrated for years, but this moment was terrible. I couldn’t even keep a tree alive! I got myself together and somehow we managed to take a “happy picture” so we could remember this moment. Despite the photo, that moment wasn’t happy, but it helped us realize if this marriage was going to last, we need to be at peace even in the small things.
As I said earlier, Christmas traditions make Christmas joyful and meaningful. If and only if, you don’t try to wreck your family with them at any cost. We recognized two things that day. First, we would never agree on whether to have a live or fake tree and second, if we wanted our marriage to last another year, we had to solve that problem. So we did.
This Christmas and for the last 24 years, we put up our Christmas ladder. It is made of wood, holds ornaments, and it came from a tree. And best of all, it’s our Christmas tradition. Twenty four years ago, we couldn’t agree on the type of tree to have, but we could agree that we wanted every Christmas after to be much more peaceful.
And that’s my hope for you this Christmas, that despite the busy holiday season, you find traditions you can carry on for years that bring you peace. And that you focus your attention on Jesus, the one who brings peace.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” - Isaiah 9:6
Searching for wisdom and asking for grace,
Jody Flurie
Jody Flurie is the Founder and Owner of Red Dirt Legacy Co. where family legacy stories are celebrated through each Little Legacy Film Series - a series of short videos that can be easily shared to keep children and grandparents connected by what matters most for each family.
Jody believes all kids, young and old, need to understand where they came from and why it matters. Everyday, she works hard to instill this in her family because it’s only through understanding who we are that we can be fully ourselves and make a true indelible mark on the world.
If you want the same thing that Jody wants for her family, visit reddirtlegacyco.com to find out how your family can celebrate the wisdom, love, and legacy of an earlier generation. If we don’t step up to bring hope to our families, who will?