A Light in the Darkness

Once upon a time in a faraway land, a deep blanket of snow was covering the ground. The snow was a gift in many ways because it was hiding all the mistakes, the scars, and the imperfections that were obvious during most of the year.

After the snow made the earth quiet, perfect, and still, and the early darkness came as a cloak and the stars began to shine, Martin was walking through the pines and looking at the snowfall and latest face of creation. As he was moving through the still and silent night and heading toward home and his family who were waiting, the stars over the treetops and the snowy path cast such a glimmer, a sudden loneliness became vast and overwhelming. After he became a captive of the moment, and was searching the beauty in the heavens, a streaking beacon brighter than any other star began crossing the sky. The shining light was magnificent and the lesson of the stars over the snowy pines was inspiring. Before he could move again, Martin knew what he must do.

In the distance, the monastery was a timeworn stack of stones and a watchtower for five hundred years before Martin was born. The windows of the abbey and the cloisters were aglow on the snow and waiting in the center of the old burg, but Martin’s family was another home waiting in the winter silence.

Without a word or a hint of his surprise, Martin took an axe from his woodshed and set out again into the darkness. When he returned to his threshold of wood smoke and warmth, he was hauling a pine under the fresh snowflakes that were falling. When he brought into his home the evergreen with the frost on the branches, his wife and children were startled and the house was full of alarm.

Everyone in the family was suddenly frightened—even the cat who was the mouser. The master of the house must be suffering very badly with the cold and the darkness for him to bring the loneliness of the wild and frozen branches into the home.

With Papa clearly determined, the family watched in awe, and then began to help, as the towering spruce with the bursting fragrance became the newest guest to warm beside the fire. After trimming a few boughs and the evergreen was bustling up to the ceiling, Papa began to wire candles to stand upright on the branches.

The candles were a major expense, but Papa knew he must recreate for his wife and his children the inspiring moment with the lonely silent night and the stars over the trees. He especially wanted to restore the brightest star of all when it became a shining beacon over the land.

When Martin Luther and his wife and his children became the first family to gaze at a Christmas tree beside a crackling fireplace, the year was 1536, and the faraway land was Germany. Soon after Martin’s first Christmas tree began to honor the birth of Christ, Christmas trees became a widespread family tradition throughout Germany and Austria.

In 1840, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Germany married Queen Victoria. Stories of their adoration and their marriage of true love made the royal couple fashion icons around the world. For their first Christmas together, Prince Albert brought the tradition of the German Christmas tree into England as a present for his new bride at Christmastime. In 1848, the London News published an illustration of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and the royal family gathered around a Christmas tree. The big floor-to-ceiling spruce was sparkling with blown glass ornaments from Germany and shavings of pure silver for tinsel. Afterward, Albert’s gift of the Christmas tree became an unstoppable tradition that soon came to America.

To decorate a Christmas tree in 1880, Thomas Edison made the first electric Christmas lights. Candles with open flames were previously the cause of many Christmastime calamities and household fires, and after Mr. Edison and his assistant made hand-wired lights with glowing colored bulbs, the modern decorations for Christmas were born.

During the Christmas of 1894, President Grover Cleveland was very happy with his red, white, and blue Christmas lights after electricity came to the White House.

In 1931, during the desperate era of the Great Depression, a group of construction workers who were thankful to have a job became the first to erect and decorate the very first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. The tree was a 20-foot fir decorated by the families of the workers with cranberry garland and hanging tin cans.

Meanwhile at the North Pole, Santa Claus is always busy working with Mrs. Claus and his reindeer, and the many elves of Christmastime.

The story of Santa, however, began in what is now modern day Turkey. Once upon another time, a young couple who were recently married were very poor and had nothing but each other. This was when St. Nickolas, who was a monk and always ready to help others, saw the newlyweds were without almost everything. At midnight on Christmas Eve, St. Nick slipped into the newlywed home. While the youngsters were sleeping, the generous monk from the third century brought gifts of gold, silver, and fragrant spices—just like the three wise men who were also following their hearts and a star when angels came and announced in a voice that will always echo around the world: A Savior has been born for you. He is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas, Marco, Goodland, and Isles of Capri! Peace on earth and goodwill toward everyone!