My Living Room Tree

I think we all have hobbies or things we collect that make us smile. Mine is Christmas and decorating for it. Unfortunately, my daughter suffers from the same collecting hobby. We are major college football fans and we use the off weekend of play to go shopping for new and interesting decorations. I have three large trees, three small table trees and 4 larger nativity scenes. Then there is the remaining table decor that is spread throughout the house. It’s a lot but evidently not enough as we still go shopping. My daughter also has 3 trees downstairs in her portion of the house. It’s a wonderful bonding time that we enjoy together. In two of my previous posts I shared my dining room tree with the village, the fun tree in my bedroom so now its time for the more formal tree of the living room. If you wish to see the other posts click on the highlighted sections for review. And I do apologize if all this Christmas is just not your thing or way to early for you to get into it. I am temporarily “benched” so I decorated early.

In most homes, the living room/family room is where the main tree is if there is more than one tree in the home. And that is how it is in my home, however I do not have exquisitely formal ornaments. That is just not my style. I do love going to other peoples houses and looking at all of there decorations and seeing their personalities. The decoration styles reflect on the things that we believe are important, so I am doing my reflecting here.

So now that I have displayed all trees, let’s dissect the tree itself to gather its full meaning. It is not just a decoration for the season, there is meaning behind all of it.

The tree itself represents the cross of which Jesus was hung on when crucified. There are 18 reference in the bible that specify that he was hung on a tree due to the way the scriptures were translated. Even the old testament refers to the Holy One being hung on a tree. We know it was not a tree in itself but it was wood from a tree. I placed a square nail on my tree near the trunk to remind me of the love and sacrifice Jesus made for me and everyone else.

The lights on the tree represent Jesus’ light that he leaves with us. Numbers 6:24-26 – May His light shine upon you and bring you peace.  We talk a lot about peace at Christmas time and try to always be peaceful and kind during this time of year. The colors of the lights also have a significance in the Christian faith, similar to the Christian beads we make for our children to understand more about Christ’s love for us.

The red lights represent Jesus’ blood shed for us. Romans 5:8-9

The white lights represent our cleansing from sin as we turn from our sin to God. Psalm 51:1-2

The blue lights represents out faith in baptism; 1 Lord, 1 faith, 1 baptism. Romans 8:9

The green lights represent our growing in faith. Colossians 1:10

The gold lights represent eternal life in Heaven with God. John 3:16

The beauty of the tree is then added to by the ornaments we place on it that reflect our personalities, our love, and the beauty of the season.  Below are a few of my favorites that are on this tree that reflect family love and the beauty of the season.

I have sincere hopes that as you approach this wonderful holiday season that you are filled with the love of family, friends and the fullness of Christ.

And please remember that tomorrow is November 13, the internationally recognized day of World Kindness Day. There is no act of kindness that is ever too small.

Even animals know, understand and use kindness.