The Tragic Tale of the Trash Tainted Tree

Once upon a time there was a Christmas tree. It was not the most gorgeous tree, nor was it very tall, but it had been given as a gift, so it was FREE. It had many years of happy Christmases, and stood as tall as it could under the lovely angel and the weight of the many glittering ornaments. It had seen children tear happily into packages and knew that it would see many wonderful Christmases in the future.

Then one year it was borrowed for an Alaskan VBS. It was odd, but quite nice to be decorated with soft billowy quilt batting draped to look like snow. And while at first the painting of the polar bear and moose had been frightening, the tree grew accustomed to having them close.

Then the tragedy occurred- the tree was trucked safely away in its storage box to await the next Christmas, but something was set upon it… Something stinky that dripped! Something that congealed onto it and made it stink, too! Oh, the tragedy! What would happen? Would the children be able to have their lovely Christmas tree? Would there be someplace to hang the glittering ornaments and rest the lovely angel? Would there be a place to nestle the Christmas packages until they were unwrapped?

Then a wonderful miracle occurred! God intervened!

Although the tree was sad to be sent to the dump never to bear the weight of ornaments and angel, it was happy to know that God had provided another tree. One taller, broader and more full. One that came with lights already attached. And the best part was that since the children’s parents had waited so long to put up the Christmas tree and did not discover the malodorous stench until most Christmas trees were gone from the store, there had only been one tree left at Lowe’s! In fact, the only tree remaining had been the store’s demonstration tree, which meant that not only was the tree 50% off since it was the week before Christmas, it was also an additional 10% off since it had been the tree that everyone got to look at when they came to the store to decide which tree they wanted!

So, as the trash tainted tree was driven away to the dump it was able to breathe a sigh of relief. It knew that the new pre-lit tree would safely bear the weight of the ornaments. It knew that the new 6 foot tall tree would proudly lift the angel high. It knew that there was plenty of room beneath its green boughs to tuck all the wonderful paper-wrapped packages. The children would always be able to unwrap their presents on Christmas morning beneath a beautiful tree. And the parents would surely find a strong smell proof box to store this lovely tree. They would never put such a horrible smelling something to rest on this tree’s box. It was too fine for such things! Too lovely to be near such a malodorous and foul stench. The tree knew that the parents had learned their lesson and that this tree would be safe for many wonderful Christmases in the future.

The End.