The Russell Christmas tree

An excerpt from the Russell Christmas card story 2008...

Russell family tradition is to have a family party on the day our tree is trimmed for holiday celebration. We select a night for the entire family to gather. Cookies are baked, eggnog is served, and Christmas songs fill the air. It is our official ushering in of this magical season. The tree ornaments are placed on a table so that we can select our special ornaments and hang them on the tree.

Memories are mentioned, fun stories of how each ornament was adopted into our family are told year after year. In the past, I have deemed a few of the ornaments the "ugly ornaments". Previously, I hung them on the back of the tree, out of sight. Like the one below, I painted when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. My mom tells me that my dad tried and tried to talk me out of selecting the colors, but I insisted. The ornament was so ugly, I inherited when I left home, and it hangs on our tree, in all it's pitifulness, year after year.

We also have the pretty ornaments, the ones selected because of their beauty, their shine. I personally like vintage glass ornaments, and I love the jewel tones, unlike the lime green and hot pink that I selected in my youth.

This year; however, the "ugly ornaments" have front row spots on our tree.
The reason?
I realized that all of our ornaments represent something important in the history of our family, the good and the bad come together to make up what is unique to us. When the tree was completed this year, it sparkled proud and majestic, displaying all our ornaments...the lovely and the unlovely.
And like our lives, it looks ...
well...
good.

It reminds me of how God takes all things and makes them work for good. He takes our ugly and makes us beautiful and like Him.
When He looks at us, He sees us as the finished project, just like the Russell Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas!