Makeshift Christmas

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The November we moved from Kansas to Texas was cold. The five of us huddled together in a small house purchased with all our funds. When the children asked if Christmas came to Texas like it did in Kansas, we nodded and said, “Just wait.”

If only, I thought, if only we had more money and if Christmas wasn’t so soon and we had our friends and church here.

We took the children to Kroger’s the weekend before Christmas to pick out their gifts. My husband and I headed toward the trees to check out prices. Even the least expensive seemed like a king’s ransom.

“How can we have Christmas without a tree?” asked Nancy.

We didn’t know. All we knew was we couldn’t afford to buy one. At home, we opened our box of decorations. There was a creche, a few ornaments the children had made, a silver garland, and some shiny blue balls.

After the children went to bed, we got an idea. With safety pins, we hung the blue balls in the form of a cross on the living room curtains. Then we took the garland and placed it around the balls in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Years later, that tree within a tree, is still considered the best tree our family ever had.

—Ann Robertson Crane, Christian Reader, Vol. 37, no. 1.

See: Matthew 1:25; Luke 2:1-7; 2 Corinthians 8:9.

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