I was sitting at this computer writing important documents of a “Top Secret” classification, when suddenly I heard a “snap” come from the direction of our Christmas tree, I looked up from the screen, and watched as the tree slowly toppled over and fell to the ground.
Some of you may recall reading a post I wrote on Nov. 30th, when we put up the tree. We had some problems with the tree stand and, that night, the tree fell over several times but with a little hard work and ingenuity (and duct tape) we thought we had the tree securely positioned.
Here we are a week later and the tree just falls over—for no apparent reason.
Nadia and Rachel heard the commotion and came into the room.
“What happened?” Nadia asked.
I said, “I don’t know.” But in a way, it was amusing to me and I began singing, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” as we all stood around looking at our Christmas tree laying on the ground. It must have been one of my rare good jokes because Nadia actually laughed. (Hey, that’s a big deal because Nadia does NOT find my jokes to be amusing.) Several ornaments had been thrown from the tree, in the fall, and Jasper eyed them the way a mouse eyes a delicious piece of cheese. (For some reason that I can’t explain, Jasper seems to enjoy eating Christmas tree ornaments.)
After more attempts at adjustments and more toppling to the ground, we were finally forced to conclude that our Christmas tree stand…let’s see…what’s the word?...hmm, what would be a good way to put it?...Oh, I’ve got it! Here you go: IT SUCKS!!!!!
“But what CAUSED the tree to fall over?” Nadia asked again. After all, it had been standing for over a week. What caused it, now, to just suddenly fall over?
We stood, looking at each other. Perplexed. Scratching our heads. Strange and befuddled looks on our faces. (Actually, the strange looks on our faces might have been residual effects of the “Chili Cook-Off” from earlier today…)
Several minutes later, I found myself driving to Target at 8:15pm on Sunday night in search of a Christmas tree stand. That effort didn’t pan out. The only type of stands they had in stock were similar to our current one and I certainly wasn’t interested in another one of those.
(By the way, I’m just joking. The food at the “Chili Cook-Off” today was outstanding!)
Anyhow, I continued my search at Walmart. They had the heavy–duty, industrial-strength, super-reinforced, high-power, ultra, mega….I can’t think of any other descriptive words, but you understand what I’m getting at, right? They had the tree stands I was looking for. The big-time, granddaddy Christmas tree stands. The hurricane-resistant tree stands. The stand costs 18 bucks and I wasn’t very thrilled about that, but it seemed to be a necessary expenditure. I couldn’t imagine the family gathered around on Christmas morning opening presents, while the tree lay on the ground in a sad heap—one or two broken lights still flashing weakly.
Well, we have the tree erected with the new improved stand and this time it REALLY is firmly secured. In the Nov. 30th post that I alluded to earlier, I had written, referring to the tree: “Brian Urlacher couldn’t knock it over now.”
Obviously, I was wrong. But THIS TIME, it’s different. This time, I believe I can make an unqualified GUARANTEE! This tree is NOT falling over.
But some of you are still probably wondering, “Dan, what DID happen? Why did that tree fall over? It stood there just fine for a week and then it toppled to the ground? Why? For the love of God, why?!?
In the world of Christian theology there are unanswered questions that we simply refer to as “mysteries”. It’s not that they haven’t been thought about and examined and pondered for centuries. They have. It’s not that people don’t want to know. They do. These mysteries have been rigorously studied by brilliant minds down through the ages but the answers are, so far, beyond our finite human capabilities. Again, these issues are understood to be “mysteries”.
I suspect that may be the case with our unusual Christmas tree incident. The answer to why it fell may elude us until we cross over into eternity and all things are finally revealed.
On the other hand, I’ve noticed that Jasper has been laying low ever since this incident occurred. I’m not pointing fingers, mind you, I’m just wondering. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jasper might have some knowledge of…well…I don’t know…I’m just saying, there’s a possibility that he might know something. But, as you might guess, he’s not talking.
…Although, he’s got his eye on a couple of ornaments.
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