Some days we all feel a little like a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

Posted on December 5, 2011 | 9 Comments

I just watched my all time favorite Christmas program, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and in watching it a couple of things dawned on me.

Sometimes we all feel like that sad little tree that Charlie and Linus pick up in the crowded Christmas Tree lot.  You know what I mean, a little or a lot beat up, maybe feeling scrawny on the inside.  Unloved or just a bit crazy around the edges for the holiday season.

But you know what, that’s OK.  Let’s face it Christmas is a crazy time of year, everyone seems a bit on edge trying to be perfect, the perfect gifts, the perfect home, the perfect love to bring home to Mom and Dad.  The list goes on and on. I must admit I got a bit emotional tonight watching the program.

For the first time I am alone from my family for the holidays.  Sure I have spent Christmas alone but I was always safe and secure in the knowledge that Mom and Dad were just a few hours up the road and I would get there before New Years Day.  However this year is different, it’s just Darlene and I.

Her mother is working graveyard shift over the holidays and my family will be in Southern Ontario.  I am sure that we will put something together, and I know that life evolves and we must adapt. But I have always had a deep dark fear of the unknown, and this is unknown territory indeed.

I am going to miss my Mother’s exploding Christmas Tree, people who came to visit on Christmas Day would always sit in slack-jawed amazement to all the love that she put into the decorations and presents.

I guess that gets to the heart of the message of Charlie Brown, though.  It’s not about presents or money, like that sad little tree that gave so much life and love it’s about the spirit of Christmas.

It’s about knowing we are loved no matter where our family is, because family means love in so many words.  It’s about the knowledge that we can receive and that we can also give.  There is always an empty spot waiting to be filled at our table, a place to join in our fellowship and laughter.

So my friends the next time you feel down, just remember that little tree and how much love it gave.  How it was transformed by the charity of a few, from a tiny sprig into a wondrous joyful thing.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Bob

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9 responses to “Some days we all feel a little like a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.”

  1. Joelle | December 5, 2011 at 9:20 pm |

    You know you and Darlene are always welcome at our place.

  2. Ivy Blaise | December 6, 2011 at 2:45 pm |

    That was a really lovely post Bob. 🙂 This Christmas will be a different one for me as well but I decided it will be a great one. I will celebrate with a great friend and her family and I will be on the phone to my family and we will all have a lovely time, in person and in spirit.

    • Bob | December 6, 2011 at 10:22 pm |

      Thanks so much Ivy, I really don’t know what came over me last night.
      Maybe just the reality that we lose through distance or death and Christmas makes that loss a little bit harder.

      But I believe that I have found a new family here in you guys my faithful followers. What we lack in contact we more than make up for in spirit.

      Merry Christmas!

  3. Nikki B | December 6, 2011 at 6:24 pm |

    Great post, Bob. I just saw friends of mine who moved to Hawai’i for his job. They have a 9month old baby, and they just can’t swing the trip home for the holidays – between the 12 hour plane ride, and trying to make families three states apart happy, it’s just too hard. So, they adjust.

    It was also a bummer the first year I couldn’t make it home for Thanksgiving because plane tickets were too expensive. We adjust.

    Thank you for the reminder – and that all of our loved ones are around us, no matter how far apart!

    • Bob | December 6, 2011 at 10:25 pm |

      Nikki, thank you also for popping in and getting what I am saying. As I told Miss Ivy I was in a weird mood last night and Charlie Brown just set me off.

      People move and people grow, that’s life. We can’t all sit in our parents laps forever, just imagine that awkward!!

      I hope that you and the people close to you have a very wonderful and earth friendly Christmas.

      Bob

  4. Nutmeg Disrupted (@Redawna) | December 7, 2011 at 3:49 pm |

    See now if we were closer geographically I would love to have you both over! I always have so much food, must be the Ukrainian in me.

    First, have no fear, Christmas alone is not always a bad thing. I somewhat embrace it. The thought of getting together with family would cause such stress and anxiety, to the point I would be sick and it caused a lot of grief in my personal life.

    If you can get together with friends that might be an idea. And if not I suggest you make it a Christmas to remember. Go all out and plan a 5 star dinner, steak lobster, the works! I bet it could be prettty special!

    And if it is better, do a Christmas style spread for say, New Years so that you all still get the chance to spend time together!

    …..wow this posting sober is pretty cool!

    Have a great day Bob! Remember, we are all just a click away!

  5. Bob | December 7, 2011 at 4:05 pm |

    Actually it’s funny after I posted this my Christmas plans started to come together. We will be with family, I will be pulling my hair out by the roots cooking a big ass turkey and things will be hectic and grand. Funny I should be saying this, when all I wanted was a bit of piece and quiet.

    Thanks so much for the care package, I haven’t opened it yet as I am suffering a bit from some nasty GI bug.

    Huggs and Much Christmas love to you and yours.
    Bob and Dar

  6. Pingback: Charlie Brown Christmas (Video) | Four Blue Hills (A repository, of sorts)