Rocking around the Christmas Tree

December is an exciting month for people of different backgrounds. Of course …it is the holiday season for people here in the US. For the Indian immigrants living here, it probably means extra vacation time for the India trip and so a lot of people I know are vacationing in India right now…….and I’ll be lying if I say that Im not jealous!! Anyway, for those of us who couldn’t make the trip back home this year, we find ourselves caught between the biting cold and fa –la-la frenzy of Christmas time. Growing up in India as a non-christian, Christmas didn’t mean much except for some caroling at school and a week’s break towards the end of the year. It is only here that I saw that “Christmas” does not just mean the celebration of birth of Christ but a month long celebration of life itself……taking time off to be with loved ones, experiencing the joy of giving and sharing, admiring the dazzling decorations all around town and reveling in Christmas traditions …..you often find that this infectious holiday mania rubbing off on you too.

During our first year in the US, we visited a close relative for thanksgiving and found a Christmas tree put up at their house. Though we felt it was nice and pretty, we were sure we would never fall for it. Everything changed when my son influenced by the Christmas craftwork in school asked me whether Santa will not stop by our house as we don’t have a Christmas tree. So this time around, in keeping with the spirit of Christmas and in keeping our son's innocence from being crushed, we decided to put up a Christmas tree. Abhay couldn’t believe his eyes as we were hanging all the decorations. After it was done, I must admit that looking at the glittering Christmas tree sure gives you a “feel-good” thrill that brightens up your day!!

As we’re on the final countdown to Christmas, I thought I should be reading popular Christmas books so that Abhay and I could get an idea of what Christmas is really like. Today I read “ Mr. Willowby’s Christmas tree” by Robert Barry. Mr Willowby’s grand Christmas tree arrives and everyone thinks it might just be the best looking Christmas tree ever. However as the tree is brought in, it appears to be a little too tall for the ceiling causing it to bend like a bow. Mr. Willowby’s butler chops off its top and presents it to the house maid who is excited to have her own small little Christmas tree. This little tree is still too big for her table top prompting her to chop off its top again, to be later found by the house gardener. The book traces the journey of the tree-top as it is passed around from door to door until destiny finally brings it back to where it originally belonged, though now housed in a mouse hole inside Mr. Willowby’s mansion. Narrated in rhyming verses, it shows how the spirit of Christmas gets trickled down in as much as what one throws away makes another’s day and that after all, life can come a full circle!!