Rescuing the Tree

This is probably my favorite Christmas holiday family tradition! Many years ago John came up with this idea - which is to RESCUE a Christmas tree. We go to the store or tree lot - anywhere with cut trees - and while everyone else there is searching for the "perfect" tree, we are looking for the WORST one we can find... the one we are SURE that nobody else will want to buy. It's fun and the funny looks we get from strangers is hilarious when they see us hold out a very unsightly tree for family inspection and then our whole family starts shouting in glee that this might be the best one! :) Every year this tradition presents such a wonderful opportunity to share that just like the tree, we are unsightly in our sin, and that Jesus paid the price to rescue us, too. There are so many analogies to salvation in this sweet tradition and the boys seem to understand it so well. After we buy the tree, we take it home and display it in the front yard with lights and decorations (and painted boxes underneath that say "THE REAL GIFT IS THAT JESUS CAME TO RESCUE YOU") and we turn that poor little tree into a treasure. Here are a few pics of the boys decorating the tree.