Christmas is Coming

We’re busy selling Christmas trees. Most of our friends know we run a cut or dig your own Christmas tree farm. It’s a small time operation. Just a hobby really. But this year you can buy already cut Henning Christmas trees in downtown Venango at the General Store. What fun to join in the “buy local” efforts of our little community and the next door littler community of Venango.

This is where you want to be to experience an “It’s a Wonderful Life” kind of Christmas. A step back in time. Many people who come to our house to get their tree bring their families. Yesterday a fella with a van load of children came back to the house to pay for his tree and told Tom, “We got the sqauttiest, ugliest tree you had out there. The kids picked it.” All I could think was, I hope mama ain’t disappointed. She wasn’t along. Another family came with a sled, left their car in our driveway and pulled the little ones down the drive, up the road, across the field (not over the river, but sort of through the woods) to go get a tree. They’re in it for the full experience. God bless ’em! Wish I’d snapped a pic.

I’ve got our traditional two trees up. The one on the porch just has white lights. The other has colored lights, red and gold bulbs, cloth angels, and pine cone ornaments which our dear friends’ daughter put together, spray painted gold and affixed red bows when she was a teenager. She’s turning 40 soon. Where did those years go? 

In church this morning we lit three candles. “Light three candles to watch for Messiah. Let the light banish darkness. Lift your heads and lift high the gateway for the king of glory.

In just a couple of weeks the preparations will be complete, the watching and waiting will be over. We’ll celebrate! But wait, I’m not quite ready yet.

The house is decorated, cookies baked, stockings hung, cantatas sung, presents purchased, waiting to be wrapped, so it would appear there is nothing left to keep me from writing a Christmas letter and getting it in the mail to friends and family. And I have two weeks to do it. Don’t worry, I’ll think of something to put that off. That’s what I was thinking a couple of hours ago. Then it hit me, I know, I’ll write a blog post.