Sense the Scent of Christmas

As a child the scent of pine drifted from the mostly unused lounge room when the door was opened by my mother who held a dustpan and brush in her hand.  Her eyes scanning the floor for pine needles that had  fallen off the limb that posed as a Christmas tree, deck in magnificent glittering decorations.

Most of the decorations were made of glass.  The red, green and gold balls, toy soldiers, Santa's and angels had to be handled with gentle care.  Bells were made of metal and rang when moved from side to side.

Electric lights that looked like small candles were unrolled and placed on the floor, then plugged into a power point.  My parents always hoped for working lights, one blown bulb would stop all the other bulbs from working.  I was amazed that one broken element in a globe could turn off so many lights.  The set I have now is not that fussy, one or two lights that don't work are not noticed.

Reaching up to the top of the limb my father always placed a angel.  This reminded me of the shepherds out in the field with their sheep, terrified by angels singing "Hosanna to God in the highest".  What the shepherds saw and heard terrified them so much that one of the angels had to tell these men not to be afraid.  What was happening was Good News.

Reassured by the angels words the shepherds hurried off to Bethlehem to see for themselves what all the commotion was about.  For a shepherd to take off and leave his sheep in the field unattended is extraordinary behaviour.  As a child I was on a sheep farm and understood that sheep need a shepherd.  Sheep seem to find trouble for themselves, but that is another story.

Years have flown past, only those with mileage on the odometer claim that phrase, now the Christmas tree comes out of a box stored in the shed for forty-eight weeks of the year, and pine is no longer the scent in the house. The decorations are impossible to break if dropped.  They possess bounce these days.   I could claim that something has been lost because my tree is artificial, but the forest and farmers could not supply a real tree to everyone each year.


Christmas for Christians comes with symbolism embedded into the decorations, the tree, the feast.  Some are personal others traditional but all give meaning to this time of the year.  The custom of decorating a Christmas tree has only been around for 500 years but the custom captures the Good News of the birth of a Baby given names of Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace so well.  The sight of a glittering decorated tree is full of promise of gifts to receive and to give.