I am going to get on my soap box for a moment....
I have been reading a lot of blogs and talking to a lot of people, who seem to make a HUGE deal about separating Christmas trees. That is having an "adult" tree and having a "kid" tree. This confuses me a little bit. Growing up, we had ONE tree. One tree filled with pretty glass ornaments, handmade kid ornaments, ugly tinsel, bright colored lights, and to some it may have been tacky... but to us, it was PERFECT. So really, is it THAT important? Does it really matter if there is an adult tree and a kid tree? What does the Christmas tree symbolize, anyway? Well... I looked it up. Here's what I found:
From http://www.christmasarchives.com/trees.html:
Why do we have a decorated Christmas Tree? In the 7th century a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, went to Germany to teach the Word of God. He did many good works there, and spent much time in Thuringia, an area which was to become the cradle of the Christmas Decoration Industry.
Legend has it that he used the triangular shape of the Fir Tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The converted people began to revere the Fir tree as God's Tree, as they had previously revered the Oak. By the 12th century it was being hung, upside-down, from ceilings at Christmastime in Central Europe, as a symbol of Christianity.
The first decorated tree was at Riga in Latvia, in 1510. In the early 16th century, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small Christmas Tree with candles, to show his children how the stars twinkled through the dark night.
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So, in our home, we will have one tree. It will be decorated with a plethora of ornaments my kids make, my (and Andy's) old homemade ornaments, beautiful lights, shiny glass balls... and it will be a symbol of Jesus and why we chose to follow Him. It will be a reminder that Christmas isn't about the presents, the trees, the decorated houses, or anything the media says it's about... It's about the GREATEST gift ever given to us, Jesus Christ.
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Off Soap box.
18 comments:
Yep, one tree for us too.
The boys each have a small (and I mean small) novelty tree in their rooms. G's is one that I found at Salvation Army and is one of my very favorite things EVER. Handmade and quilted. Cute.
Nice post Brittany
oh, i have two trees- but not a "kid" tree and "adult" tree. after we moved to a house we got a bigger tree but i didn't want to get rid of our first little tree. so, we have a tree in two different rooms because i love christmas trees. the decorations for the small tree are different from the big one but just in that they are all either white, gold, silver, or made of wood. not based on weather they are children's or adult's decorations.
what drives ME nuts is people that refuse to do a christmas tree at all because their kids are toddlers and they assume that the kids will ruin them. i say it is an excellent way to teach boundaries. i mean, at least get a little table top tree! decorating the tree is a magical experience for your kid- common, let them do it!!
ok, off my soap box. ;)
Well said! I agree - I've never understood the need for seperate trees. Our tree is a mishmash of sentimental and the "nice" ornamnets. Can you guess which ones mean more to me??
Now, we do have another tiny tree in Nadia's room...but that's just for some extra Christmas spirit!
One tree here.....I'm not into the designer tree thing. Ours reflects the 12 years we've been a family...new ornaments each year. Nothing matches but it is perfect :)
I think this was a great post. We have only one tree. But next year we will have two. Just because you can imagine with the four of them making ornaments and getting new ones each year, our poor little tree can't handle it all anymore! And I think it would be real fun for them to have a bit of Christmas in their playroom as well.
I noticed that as well the other day. My ex-sister in law has a kids tree and a "formal" tree...
Now.. I have one tree in the front room. I love my tree... however, since Issa has her birthday on the same day, I needed a way to make her day special, so I have a Birthday tree for her. It has pink stuff all over it and all of her presents go under it. It's in the kids TV room and is only for her.
Oh.. and we have one at work, though that doesn't count :)
I've always only had one tree too. But I suppose I understand if someone wants to have a gorgeous "show" tree. To each their own, I suppose. :)
Am I the only one who's never heard of this?? We're just glad that we have a tree, although we haven't completely figured out how we're going to do the ornaments since we have a 12 month old. . .
We have a small ikea tree, so I'm sure we'll have to upgrade sometime, but we like it. It's cute and was in our budget. Last year was the first year we had a tree since we were married (7 1/2 years ago!).
I don't get the "kid" tree and the "adult" tree. The best part of Christmas trees are those hokey handmade ornaments sewn with yarn and glitter falling off everywhere.
I know some people just like to have multiple trees so they can have one on the first and second floor, for example. Or if they have so many hokey ornaments they need TWO whole trees for them.
But as for me? One is enough! Though I admit to loving lights in mantles, banisters, etc!
Oh - and I'm with Blueberry. My parents were all "we're not doing a tree because of your kid." Umm ... the Christmas tree is FOR the kids. DUH!
We get a real tree so it is only one for us.
I would not even think about having
two trees, seems like the sort
of thing my mother in law would
do
I had no idea people had kid trees :) I think one is fine!
By the way, I had no idea until this year that Christmas is not actually on Jesus' birthday?! I always thought it was his birthday. And also that a lot of the "traditions" are pagan in origin because of a desire to convert pagans to Christianity. (This page summarizes it pretty well, although I have read several: http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/cot/t0w32christmas.htm) Pretty interesting -- I had no idea it had changed so much over history!
What a great post! We have 2 trees, but it is not a kid's tree and grown-up tree - it is because I like to separate the gifts between the ones we have for our family and then those for friends and outside family memebers - it's just a nice way to keep everything separated and not so crammed under one tree. I have 4 kids so my kids' gifts take up their own tree - tee hee! I do agree with that there should really only be one tree, though.
Have a good day - Kellan
We have always had one tree here (with all the beautiful handmade ornaments from the kids)! I love it!!!! I wouldn't have it any other way! I have always let the boys pick out an ornament every yr., as well, so my tree is covered in Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Power Rangers, etc.......Oh, and footballs, basketballs, etc........the list goes on!!!! :))
Have a good weekend!!! :)
Not offended what so ever. Growing up we had one tree, until I was 7, then we moved into a 7 bedroom ginormous house so if we put the tree in the front of the house we never saw it, if we put it in the back of the house no one could see it from the road so we had two trees.
When I became the mama, we had one tree. Then year before last they had those mini tiny trees on sale and I purchased one to use as Alex's night light.
Then he wanted to decorate it. Next thing I knew we suddenly had a family tree and a Alex tree. Of course last year Dylan couldn't be left out so I bought him a tree as well.
I decided this year not to deal with it with the situation we are living through with Alex so I didn't even get them out.
When I got Alex for Thanksgiving, he said "Mommy, am I going to get my own tree this year?"
So of course I pulled it out. We don't even know if he'll be home for christmas.
That was a good soapbox to be on!
I never heard of that either, (not to offend but...) those are the people that have separate kid tables at the special meals like Thanksgiving and separate kid meals at dinner. I don't get any of that.
I do understand having two trees in a large house, although I would never do it because I don't have the energy to decorate two full trees! Eek!
And even Sara's and Christina's reasons for having a kid tree is different then those who have an "adult" tree and a "kid" tree. I've never had a problem with Harrison learning his boundary and pulling a tree down or ornaments off. All I did was adjust where I hung the ornaments.
An interesting post and lots of interesting responses too. We have one tree but I do love my themed colour decorations :-). There are handmade ones in there too though.
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