Trees for Everyone!

I've upgraded from buying Christmas cards to making my own (partially for creativity's sake, but mostly because a box of 10 Christmas cards can cost $25 whereas a bag of glitter costs $1).

My original plan was to decorate each card with a different and unexpected holiday symbol. There would be the Christmas Rat, since Jesus came to earth for all creatures, not just humans; there would be the Christmas Unicorn, in remembrance of that fallen species that perished in the Great Floods; there would be the Christmas Little Red Riding Hood and Wolf, to show that even these feuding characters can lay aside their differences to open presents together in celebration of Jesus' birth; there would be the Christmas Mermaid, because mermaids have just as much to do with Christmas as elves or men in bright red furry suits do (or unicorns or rats or little red riding hood, for that matter)--also, mermaids are pretty. And there would be angels to give out to the people who are likely to be offended and/or perplexed by Christmas Mermaids and Christmas Unicorns.

I did make all of those cards, too. But then, just for fun, I made a Christmas Tree card, too. I discovered how fun it is to draw Christmas Trees. As long as it's narrow at the top, wide at the base, and has a gold star at its pinnacle, it can generally be confirmed to be a Christmas tree. Fun and simple, and pretty, and colourful! I got really excited about the Christmas trees. So excited that I had to call my roommate into our glitter-infested living room to show them to her. I made green trees with blue lights and magenta trees with gold lights and purple trees with green lights and blue trees with silver lights. It was a multicoloured treestravaganza!

This brings me to my Christmas Symbol Theory. I have often heard laments from certain members of my church that the most popular holiday symbols--such as trees, presents, stockings, etc--don't have all that much to do with the 'true meaning of Christmas'. In fact, they have more to do with presents--things to put presents under, wrap presents in, and stuff presents into. Very consumer-based. Maybe so. But they're also just so darned simple to draw. It's far more likely that your average human being can produce a glittery card of a stocking hung by the chimney with care than a recognizeable depiction of the Three Wise Men on their camels. Unless you're willing to put it in an excessive amount of effort per card, you'll end up with cards that look like they were drawn by a cross-eyed first-grader.* So maybe it's not that Christmas has become a consumer-driven holiday so much as we're lazy and lacking in artistic skills.


*Alright, maybe I'm grossly underestimating everyone else's artistic talents. But I can speak for myself.