Observing Christmas and the season of Light this year has taken on an entirely different look for my wife and me. For the first time in many years we are sharing our home with a new family member. His name is Mac Doodle and we celebrated his first birthday this week. Mac is a large Labradoodle/Goldendoodle mix. More specifically, he is a seventy-pound bouncing ball of fur who has more energy and curiosity than do most young children. As we began to bring out our Christmas decorations, this one-year old “puppy” was beyond delighted with the numerous possibilities that lie waiting for him in all of the new sights, colors and fragrances--he was ecstatic...and we had not yet put up the Christmas tree. In an instant Diane and I had a shared vision of what our home would look like with a fallen Christmas tree and ornaments spread throughout every room in the house and we began laughing. Time for plan B.
 We decided to buy a small three and a half-foot tree and place it on a table out of Mac’s reach and, I am happy to report, so far so good. However, I have to admit, it took a few days to get used to having a tabletop tree. Traditionally we have always placed our gifts under the tree, but this year there is no room on the table to do so. In its diminutive size the tree just didn’t quite feel as “Christmasy.” It surely didn’t measure up to the spectacular trees I have enjoyed over the years and I was beginning to think I would be missing the grandeur of the Christmas “feeling” in our home.
It was then that I began to consider the deeper meaning and purpose of having presents and a tree at all. After some self-inquiry the awareness that came to me is that it isn’t really about the size or location of the tree. Irrespective of its stature and where it is placed in our home, the Christmas tree, with its beautiful trim and bright lights, is an external reminder of an internal and eternal truth about a gift that has already been given and received: The gift is that of life itself and, more so, the birth of the awareness of Infinite Love being manifest in the world. The Christmas tree is a beautiful way to “remember to remember” that the ultimate gift is love and the many ways in which we share it with others.
In his well known Christmas letter Dr. Ernest Holmes wrote: “Christmas is for remembrance. The love manifesting through our gifts to each other typifies the offering of Life, the givingness of Spirit to its creation. The hands of the Eternal are outstretched through our hands, and the heart of the Infinite beats in the human breast. But the giver must give of himself, for ‘The gift without the giver is bare’. It is not, then, in lavish gifts that we find true giving but in the sweet simplicity of remembrance, in the kindly thought, the tolerant mind and the gentle act. Love alone can give love, sympathy alone can sympathize and only goodness can really do or be good. When heart speaks to heart a divine conversation has taken place, a heavenly discourse. Each of us has something to give. Let each see that he gives of his best. If we are bringing our gifts to the altar of love, nothing less than the best will be acceptable, nothing less than all is enough. May the real spirit of Christmas ~ the giving of self to life enter and abide in you now and through all time.”
Remember, if Christmas isn't found in your
heart, you won't find it under a tree.
~ Charlotte Carpenter
I am grateful that Mac Doodle came into my life this year because he helped me remember that when it comes to Christmas trees, the size of the tree and the material gifts we place under it really don’t matter. The gifts that matter the most can’t be wrapped and they don’t need to go under a tree. Perhaps the greatest present any of us can give this year is our presence...our compassion...our time...our respect...our generosity of spirit and, most importantly, our remembrance that it is the Love born this season we celebrate all year long.
This holiday season, each time you look at a Christmas tree, may you remember that it’s not the size of the tree, its location, or whether it is real or artificial that matter...and its not the gifts that may or may not be under the tree that matter--it’s the awareness that life, even with its many challenges, is essentially good. The real gift is the life you’ve been given. How you share that gift with your world is the gift you give back to the Divine One. Love is the way.
Peace, Dennis
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