New Year Tree (A very late post)

The plan was to buy a Christmas tree after my husband's final exams. But then everything shifted when we decided last minute to go out of town to be with family. The kids packed their Christmas stockings with them and my four-year-old instructed me to e-mail Santa on our change in location and if needed, send him a map.  I thought the tree issue was over, but upon our return home several days past Christmas, they begged for a tree. I was wondering what to do when my friend casually asked if we might want a beautiful potted Christmas tree that she just happened to have in addition to her own Christmas tree.  God listens to the prayer of babes. And so a few hours prior to a snow storm, our dear friend left the tree on our front lawn. Then it snowed and snowed while the children peered outside the windows, longing for daddy who had worked the night shift to wake up to bring their tree home.  When we noticed that the snow had temporarily stopped, my husband rushed to bring it to the garage where the snow could melt a bit until finally, this morning we have the tree up and decorated. "It's a new year tree!" declared the eldest and so it is.

We are still celebrating Christmas in the new year. We finished the Jesse Tree last week but are finishing reading all the Christmas books that I never had a chance to read aloud to S and C. Among them, The Christmas Window was new to us and perfect addition to our ongoing medieval studies. Yesterday, I read books from the previous years including Gerda Marie Scheidll's The Little Donkey, Margaret Wise Brown's Christmas in the Barn, Cynthia Cotten's This is a Stable, Edith Hope Fine's Cricket at the Manger, and one new one, King of the Stable by Melody Carlson which brought tears to my eyes.

The next day Matthew gazed into Jesus' eyes. "You must know how I feel, Jesus," he said quietly. I was sad to leave my father's house and come to a strange place. But when I think of how you left your Father's House in heaven to come down to earth--"Matthew shook his head in wonder. "That must've been awfully hard."

May the wonder and grace of God's gift to us bring us joy and comfort in the new year.