Unexpected Traditions

Emma Cooper moved in February from her hometown to a different city to study, and she won’t be home to put up the tree with her family this year. She looks back to her family’s Christmas tree tradition, which is going to look a little different for her this year.

For many of us Christmas is all about traditions, but Jesus’ birth was anything but traditional. Today, Christians accept the unusual details of the Christmas story: an angel announcing to a virgin that she would have a son, a saviour being born in a stranger’s stable, shepherds abandoning their work to honour the birth of an unknown child and, of course, we celebrate all of this by decorating indoor trees. I don’t know about you, but when I really think about it, there was nothing traditional about the first Christmas.

While I might claim to enjoy spontaneity and change, I’m a big fan of traditions and doing the same things year after year. This is especially true when it comes to Christmas, with a favourite tradition being putting up the Christmas tree. There’s a carefully crafted method, and it’s important to stick to it.

Step One: Retrieve the box

Every November (yes, we put our tree up in November) the box appears. This is the moment I most eagerly anticipate. The tape barely holding the tattered box together and my sister’s annually improving handwriting spelling out ‘Christmas Tree’ reminding me of many past Christmases. When Dad finally places the box in the living room one weekend, the countdown to Christmas truly begins.

Step Two: Assemble the base

Every year Dad has to find a way to fix the base in place, because for as far back as I can remember it’s always been broken. One Christmas Eve the base didn’t do its job, and the tree consequently fell. The fairy decoration I got as a baby is now missing a hand, but it tells a story. Perhaps one year we’ll have a balanced Christmas tree, but I doubt it. A wobbly tree has become part of our tradition.

Step Three: Attach the branches and fairy lights

I still love sorting all the branches into their piles before attaching them to the tree ready to ‘fluff’ them. To some this may seem like the most boring part, but as a kid, fluffing out the branches seemed like an adult job, and it felt special to have a go at it.

The lights must go on the tree immediately after it is finally assembled. Four of us form a line around the tree, each holding on to the string of lights that I’ve just spent ten minutes untangling, even though I could swear they were put away nicely last year.

Step Four: The decorating process

The decorating begins with a box of Cadbury Favourites on the table, a Spotify playlist with the most eclectic range of Christmas songs and siblings with varying attitudes towards actually putting decorations on the tree. I love dancing around the tree, singing along to the songs and finding the perfect spots for my decorations, which have a wildly different colour scheme from the others, yet somehow fit in perfectly.

Step Five: Celebration

On Christmas morning my siblings and I (dog included) gather under the tree for our annual Christmas morning photo. It’s chaos, with nobody sitting still, and the dog more interested in being on top of us than facing the camera. Everyone’s laughing or grumpy or half asleep, but we know looking back that these will become some of our favourite Christmas photos.

This method is perfect and it’s worked for as long as I can remember.

Changing Christmas season

This Christmas I’ll put up my own little Christmas tree in my flat. There will be no need to decorate it—it’s already fully put together—and no need to dance around to music or make sure the dog doesn’t steal chocolate off the table.

My whole Christmas story is about to change and I’m learning to trust God’s plans even when I can’t see how it’s going to turn out. Like Mary and Joseph, who were brave enough to bring a child into the world and raise him, even though their community may not have understood and judged them. Like the innkeeper, who showed kindness and willingness to do what he could for people in need, even if he didn’t have the resources to help them. And like the shepherds, who trusted their sheep would be okay while they set off to see a baby in a stable.

So, even though my Christmas traditions might not be the same this year, I’m choosing to embrace the change, trusting that God has a plan for me right where I am. I’ll accept the kindness of friends and extend my own to others in my new community this Christmas. I won’t be helping my family put up their Christmas tree this year, but I have the chance to reflect on what Christmas truly means to me and how I want to celebrate it. The traditions I’ve come to love are wonderful, but they’re not the reason I celebrate Christmas. This year, I’m remembering what it means to have faith, no matter how unpredictable things may seem, because God showed us through Jesus’ unexpected birth that his plans are always perfect, and eventually they’ll make sense.