Several years ago (well, several decades ago) Rebekah and I made the move from “live” Christmas trees to the “everlasting” variety. Translated, that means: we changed from freshly-killed to artificial. This may have had something to do with the saga (fiasco) of the so-called Happy Christmas Tree Farm (I will share that one if enough of you request) or simply our desire to save a little time.

Regardless, this year we had a change of heart so Rebekah and I hitched up the reindeer and drove the sleigh into downtown Raleigh to pick up our very own “until recently living” Christmas tree.

It’s perfect. In an imperfect sort of a way, of course. The guy at Logan’s told us our tree spent the early part of its life living on the side of a mountain near West Jefferson. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear, because that is our favorite place to take the occasional week of rehab.

I love the smell. I love the excuse this gives us to hang up more of our amazing collection of ornaments. I love the way the tree speaks of and represents so much of real life, and how it tells the story that every single aspect of our day-to-day is important and relevant to this ongoing “Greatest Story Ever Told.”

It’s not just angels and stars but everything, from pigs and sheep to birds and trucks and houses and lighthouses and more; anything and everything because our entire life is redeemed under the canopy of grace and redemption. It’s not a decoration so much as it is an archaeological exhibit.

So here is the picture by picture story of this year’s “nearly alive” tree. Not an earth-shattering blog entry but fun. Enjoy. And, if you missed it, click here to check out photos from the first night of WFPC’s 2019 Walk Through Bethlehem. It’s a classic.

Peace and more – Derek