A Touching and Creative Christmas Tradition

Over the years, I have encountered some very creative Christmas traditions. It seems we all tend to change our own traditions over time. Often we include the traditions of others that we've heard about or have been a part of when visiting friends or relatives. Many times, someone new enters our life and our traditions combine with theirs, making our own unique traditions. Other times, something happens that is completely life-changing and our traditions change with those events.

When my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago, I was devastated. It was close to Christmas and I couldn't find it in myself to decorate the house or even put up a tree. For me, this was completely out of character, as I had always gone a bit overboard with the decorations. My husband asked repeatedly if I was going to at least put up the tree, but my answer was always the same. The answer was no.

On Christmas Eve, my husband came home from shopping with a small, decorated, live tree. It was a bit of a pathetic little tree. It was certainly far from the 6 foot tree we were accustomed to. He placed it in our bay window and we placed the gifts around it. That began a tradition for us.

Not only did that become our tradition, it became our way of celebrating life. It came to represent so many different things for us.

As I look back over the past 5 years, I realize how important this tradition has become. I look forward this year to celebrating life once again as we celebrate my sister being cancer free for 5 years.

I often reflect on the moment my husband walked in with that tree. It was the most special gift he has ever given me. At my weakest moment, he gave me strength and hope with that small gesture. As I cried, he told me that we'd care for the tree and plant it in the spring. Our Christmas hasn't been the same since.