When we were newlyweds, we made quite a big deal out of picking out our tree each year. I love holidays, and especially decorating for Christmas. We would find a place to cut our own fir down, and traipse up and down the rows until we found just the perfect one. Those first years our apartment was tiny, so we chose small trees to fit. That was good, because we only had a handful of ornaments. We would string popcorn and cranberries to fill in the gaps. One memorable time Drummer, our naughty cocker spaniel, ate all the popcorn off the lower branches, leaving sodden thread and macerated berries behind.
Once we moved to a real house, we were able to get a little bigger tree. Chris prefers a tree with "wow" appeal.He also prefers multi-colored lights to decorate the tree with.I am happy with a smaller tree, one I can reach the top of without climbing on a ladder, and to me white lights are the only way to trim a tree. We came up with a compromise. One year he would choose the tree, and we'd use colored lights. The next year, I'd pick, and little twinkly white lights would be chosen. When Rachel came along, she got to choose the tree and lights every third year. Somehow, in the last 10 years or so, it ended up being just Rachel and me choosing and decorating the tree.
Yesterday Chris and I went out and bought this years fir. We found one just the right size, with a nice shape. There was a tree on the lot festooned with little multi-colored lights. "Oh," Chris said wistfully, "look at how pretty that is." I was suddenly ashamed. I'd been having my way with the decorating for far too long.
Today I headed to the hardware store to buy lights with some pigment to them. I was a little sad to think I'd have to look at a tree that didn't have my preferred scheme, but I was excited to surprise my sweetie. And then I found something amazing. Christmas lights that could be changed from white to multi with the flick of a switch. Now here was a marital aide a girl could get enthused about!
I brought them home and was happily tucking them into the branches when I got a text message from my friend who owns the hardware store. She said, "I was reading Romans 12:10 this morning and smiled and thought, 'Well, the Conner's certainly won that round.'" I quickly looked it up, "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." I flipped the switch from white lights to multi-colored and smiled. Christmas lights and marital harmony, sometimes they look the same.
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