©2011 Lynn Ferrin
Every
year I try to make a point of visiting the Mission Inn in Riverside
to view the fantastic display of lights and decorations. They are
truly beautiful and, I might add, very costly.
As
I write, my thoughts go back and back through the years to the most
beautiful tree I ever saw. It was in 1924, and I was in the first
grade in a one-room schoolhouse, literally in the woods on the coast
of Oregon, so getting a tree was no problem.
We
had been having a wonderful time making decorations for the school
tree. We strung popcorn and cranberries and chains of green and red
paper. There were little stars made of some silver and gold papers.
Finally,
the time for the Christmas program came, and our whole family came to
hear the songs and readings we had so painfully rehearsed.
There
in the front of the room, stood the Christmas tree, bedecked with all
of our decorations, but something else had been added. On many of the
branches there were candles clamped on in little holders. At the
appropriate time, some of the men lit the candles and there was a
complete transformation.
The
brilliant light, I am sure, was very much like the lights of heaven,
and I was completely awed and inspired.
The
candles were quickly extinguished because of fire danger, but, in my
mind, they still burn in all their beauty and glory.
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