Christmas in the Trees

The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown,
Of all the trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown.

— “The Holly and the Ivy”

When life is full of bright lights and joyful distractions, we can pass the winter barely noticing the dark; but this Advent has been – for many of us – a slower season. Parties and shopping trips are set aside. The season of preparation for the coming of Christ is in some ways more honest than it has been in decades – no longer pretending to be Christmas.

This year, Advent is a little darker, a little slower, and magical in a deep, quiet way. There’s snow and bending birches all through my little woodland. Our holly is healing slowly after being decimated by goats in the early spring. Its glossy, prickly leaves burst through the snow like an oasis of green. As this slower Advent season moves into a less busy Christmas, we have an opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the natural world’s preparation for the Nativity. If you’re looking for new ways to greet the Infant Christ, look to the trees!

The Holly (Christ’s Thorn)

For European Catholics, holly has been a symbol of Christ and His Nativity for more than a millennia. With its bright winter berries and evergreen leaves, holly seems to be celebrating the Child Christ’s birth all winter long. But holly isn’t just a symbol of Christmas, “the holly bears a prickle/ as sharp as any thorn”. Prickly leaves, bitter bark, and blood red berries all come together to remind us that the Infant in the manger will soon be the Savior on the Cross.

Many early Christians imagined Christ in a crown of holly thorns, and legends say that His blood stained the berries red. But legends also say that prickly holly in and around the house brings health and happiness in the new year. In our house, holly leaves are on the altar (a blend of smooth sided and prickly-edged leaves is ideal for marital harmony).

For those of us feeling the weight of the year this Christmas, holly is a symbol of hope amid the darkness. The Infant King we embrace this season has already triumphed, He brings light into the darkness and calls joy out of sorrow.

Birch

Birch trees are some of the loveliest wintertime trees in the forest. Tall, slender, and pale they shine in the moonlight and bend low under the weight of each snowfall. Birches are the shepherds of the forest, come to bow down before the Infant King.

In Slavic countries, birches are symbols of renewal and hope. Cradles are often made of birchwood, and birch trees are planted outside nurseries to guard the new babe until he can be baptized. They’re the trees of springtime and new life. At Christmas, just after the winter solstice, the graceful birch-trunks seem to stand as guardians in awe around the Newborn Savior.

Rosemary

Legend says that rosemary will never grow taller than Christ, and it will stop growing in its 33^rd year of life, to honor our Savior. Since rosemary isn’t a perennial in my wintery, northern home, I’ll never have a chance to test this theory; but every Christmas I try to have a small rosemary plant in my home, to fill the house with its fresh scent.

Rosemary is a warming, soothing, and antiviral herb as well as a mini tree. Sprigs of rosemary in sparkling white wine, with pomegranates or cranberries can make a cozy Christmas evening even cozier. Rosemary is the herb of remembrance, as Shakespeare says. As you sip, remember those dear friends and relatives you’re not able to see this season, no matter the reason, and offer a prayer for them.

Fir

The northern woods are full of fragrant fir trees. Our Christmas tree each year is almost always a Balsam fir, and the scent of Balsam is woven into all my favorite Christmas memories. Evergreens are an essential aspect of the Christmas season. Almost everyone brings in a bundle of boughs or a whole tree to decorate.

The lives of the saints point to Boniface as the initiator of evergreens at the Feast of Christ’s Nativity. While evangelizing the pagan Germans, St. Boniface came upon a winter sacrifice to Thor. He stepped in, stopping the human sacrifice and toppling the pagan’s sacred oak. Then  Boniface directed the stunned Germans to another tree: a small, young fir.

This little tree, a young child of the forest, shall be
your holy tree tonight. It is the wood of peace… It is
the sign of an endless life, for its leaves are ever green.
See how it points upward to heaven. Let this be called
the tree of the Christ-Child; … it will shelter no deeds of
blood, but loving gifts and rites of kindness

Winter in Nature

The first season of the new liturgical year is moving towards its joyful end. Christmas is almost here. Folk traditions say that at midnight on Christmas Eve, all of creation celebrates the Birth of Christ the King. Animals speak, trees sway and dance, the whole world glows in His light.

For many of us though, the joy of the natural world has been buried for years under a cloud of consumerism and social obligations. This year, with many of our families isolating and our budgets stretched tight, maybe we can spend a bit of time in the forest – watching the snow fall from laden branches and swaying with the trees who celebrate the Birth of a Savior.