Today, we remember in a special way, the Christmas Tree Story ~

One Christmas, long ago, Paul went out to chop down a Christmas tree to bring home to Mary and the family. Mary had specific details about how full the tree should be, the height, the color, and even discussed what type of tree it should be….

Paul went out searching for the tree while Mary (my grandmother) stayed home fixing the meal we would have after the tree “rested” - the resting period for the tree is the time between putting it in the stand, to any snow or water melting off of it, and its branches gently splaying open on their own naturally - sometimes this can take up to a day. In this particular case, it would only take a couple hours. After the tree rested and we ate, we would be able to decorate the tree….

After a little while, he came home with a fabulous tree, put it in the stand, and swiveled part of the tree to the back, having the fullest side facing the living room and all those who would come to visit. The corner the tree went in had a picture window on either side so the neighbors could see the tree as well as anyone who would drive by the house….

Mary came in to see the tree ~ and she asked what happened ….she said “why does the tree have a bald spot in the back?”

My grandfather just looked at her and said ~ “I found the best tree I could find, there was snow all over it, it must be bald from the weight of the snow or that is the way it grew next to the other tree….”

Now my grandfather was a very practical man, and he also loved my grandmother very deeply. She looked at him and she looked at the tree. She went over to the “bald spot” and felt around, looked at the view from the neighbor’s house, and the view those driving by could see - by standing by the windows on those sides of the tree….She was not pleased….she said; “You have to do something about the bald spot. there is a big huge hole in the back of the tree and anyone can see it.”…followed by: “where are we going to put all the ornaments?”….then she walked away.

Paul, stood there, perplexed, then he went outside for a little while. Paul knew very well they had about 5 large deep storage boxes of Christmas tree ornaments from the all the years of celebrating Christmas as a family, and all the ones passed down to her from her family. He had to do something… my grandfather was very handy, and when he had an idea, he had an idea and it almost always seemed to work….

He got his drill from out of his workshop while we started to set the table… next thing we knew he was grafting two different types of pine trees together… He had cut one type of pine tree branches off of a pine tree we had outside and grafted them to a different type of pine tree inside … however, he opted to use the drill to drill tiny holes into the tree trunk for these new branches to fill in the bald spots! He was solving the problem of the bald spots, while also creating something totally unique. Thinking of my grandmother and not wanting to disappoint her with the Christmas Tree or ruin her Christmas, he opted to add in the branches for a fuller effect. The pine tree in the yard was very full, and was one that they planted together… so he knew where he could pull the branches from to add them to the other tree, and since my grandfather knew alot about nature, he knew this would not hurt the tree he was taking the branches from. He always had to trim the trees agriculturally every year anyway, so why not trim a little now? ….

When I look back on this, I cannot help but laugh because my grandfather was so smart, but also because he was not perfect…. I also have to laugh because my grandmother wanted a fuller tree - and he delivered - when she came back into the room she didn’t say a thing, she just looked at the tree and raised her eyebrows and looked at the tree in astonishment at what my grandfather had done. His love for her poured out….and the way they were with each other made it clear that love doesn’t have to be perfect for it to be real or for it to be true love. It just has to be…. what I mean is …. love just has to exist — it just has to be — in order for it to endure and make the holiday bright. At that point, once he acted on his brilliant idea of grafting the branches onto the tree, even if they were a different species of pine, he showed my grandmother how much he cared about making Christmas special. With my grandmother walking away and just raising her eyebrows in disbelief that he had fixed the tree, and in wonder and awe of him for fixing it, and that everyone outside and inside would be blessed by the sight of the tree and that the tree would make all of their holidays bright… she showed us that true love always brings the little things, and works through the little details… true love also cares about the littlest of things…. true love also, can silence our hearts and quiet our minds when it is overcome with awe and wonder…. and grace…. this further leads to the excitement!! After my grandmother saw the tree and walked away in astonishment… she went and got the Christmas tree ornaments and we all started to decorate the tree together as a family. And of course, we were delighted, as grandchildren, to decorate the tree and spend the afternoon in some form of Christmas glee and to spend time with our grandparents … as my grandmother also knew the type of tree she would like, what she loved even more was spending time with her family, with us, and seeing us happy and full of joy…creating memories with us…memories that would last a lifetime.

Through this - they also put to truth the bible passage: Romans 11:16-22 ~ “ if the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the other and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “ Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of their unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare, the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. (This is a reminder of the full inclusion God has for all, and that God will be true to the promises concerning the Jewish people. Paul, the author of Romans foresaw a future for Israel, even though the nation was for a time set aside. The reference to the grafted branches is a reference to Gentile Christians and a reference to the Gentile Christians salvation being dependent on the Jews, especially the patriarchs. In relation to the kindness and sternness of God - any adequate doctrine of God must include these two elements. When we ignore God’s kindness, God seems a ruthless tyrant; when we ignore his sternness, he seems a negligent father. Paul holds out hope for God for all people. NIV) My grandfather himself, nor my grandmother were ruthless tyrants or negligent. They filled our holidays and lives with faith, hope, love, and cheer. Even on a bad day… the days were bright because of their love and care for each other and the desire to love each other well, to grow more deeply in love with each other through the love they had for Christ and their faith.

My grandparents reminded us that every relationship takes faith, and humbleness, so that we can stand in awe of the other. My grandmother had a deep faith that my grandfather could fix the tree and the tree problem.. .she even had deep faith in him to go pick out the tree while she stayed home and prepared the dinner… my grandfather had faith in himself that he could fix it - and add the branches into it. But it goes even deeper than this. In the case of the Grafted branches on the Christmas tree, once Christmas was over, the tree could be taken down and with the branches that were grafted on it… those branches would create new shoots and would grow from the Christmas tree, especially since the branches were grafted onto the trunk of the tree itself. By grafting the branches onto the trunk of the tree itself, it created the greatest support for the ornaments as well as the greatest support for the grafted branches.. The grafted branches would continue to draw water and nutrients from the Christmas tree. the Christmas Tree serves as the host for the branches, and provides the nutrients for the branches to then grow and take root. That being, once the tree was taken down… it could be laid down outside in a forest … with the grafted branches standing upright… the grafted branches could grow and create, in essence, new trees from the Christmas tree. Every new branch grafted on in this case, represents another tree being born. This deeply symbolized for me, their faith and love life as well, giving root and budding and blooming to our faith lives as well as our growth in love… and the hope present within love. It further reaffirmed my own calling to married life, and the deep love that comes from loving another, and giving love to another, as well as the deep acceptance of the other with their imperfections. The love, respect and awe present in true love and the truth of true love is what carried them through every day. It also further testifies to the truth that when true love is present it creates new growth and it serves as a base for love to blossom and grow. It taught me that the most important gift is love… not a tree… although when you are in love with someone, you love to see them happy and full of joy. In this case, my grandfather brought delight to not only my grandmother, but also us, his grandchildren, and his great grandchildren. It was moments like this that spoke volumes to me about the gift of love and what love entails. From the sacrifices, to the little moments, and to the moments of silence, wonder, and awe.

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***Of note…. my grandfather was not a “grafter” by trade… he worked for IBM. hahaha! Although he did know alot about nature and did walk down the path of almost creating his own nature preserve/conservation (with 1 acre short) because of his deep love of nature and my uncle became a horticulturalist and landscape architect….

What is tree grafting?

Tree grafting is kind of the tree equivalent of an organ transplant. It's attaching a small, budding branch (called the “cultivar”) from one healthy tree onto the trunk (technically the “stock” or “rootstock”) of a different tree. Tree grafting usually happens in winter while the tree is dormant. Grafting may be performed on branches ranging from 1 inch to several inches in diameter. The branch or trunk is cut off at a right angle in the same manner as described for cleft grafting.

For More on Tree Grafting see below:

Tree Grafting 1

Tree Grafting 2