A Christmas Nest

     I was bothered about our Christmas Tree.  Really bothered.  They import one kind of tree to lower Alabama.  It's called a Fraser Fir and it is bushy and stubby looking.  Not at all the tall, lean, elegant tree I'm used to, where you can see the lovely trunk and you can string lights on all the branches. They have to cart it all the way from North Carolina, you'd think they could bring other varieties.
     It may not seem important, we could always get a fake tree, but we have this thing we do where we cut the bottom of the tree off and make an ornament out of it, so it has to be the real deal.  Finally, on the fourth lot we found one that was ok.  It was different.  The man said he'd never seen a tree like it.  Apparently it was the only one on the truck.  It was priced to sell because it was a "mistake".
     Dean was getting it ready to go in the tree stand when he called us all outside to see what he'd found in the bottom branches of our tree....a nest, a Christmas nest.  It made the tree special and wonderful and warmed my heart.  It's usually Dean who struggles with the Holidays, but the Vitamin D has been good for him this year, and though I'm not officially a Grinch, I've been struggling without the snow and the traditions we left behind.  So, I'll step back and gain some perspective from this little treasure in our tree, and maybe my heart will grow a few more sizes this year.