The Friendship Tree
I hope you had a blessed Christmas this year. Often Christmas time is filled with memories of times shared with family, of times when the kids were younger, but this year I spent a lot of time reflecting even beyond that. Many years ago when I was in college and moved into my first apartment, Christmas gained a whole new excitement as my roommate and I decorated our very own place. To match our living room, we went with a blue, white, and silver theme. Year after year, that very same tree was the center of festivities even after college in my rental house beside my parents. Friends added ornaments, made ornaments, helped decorate, and so on. With a new tree, the same decorations were used in my second living room when I moved into my house. This year would mark twenty-seven years of blue, white, silver ornaments enjoyed by many of my dearest friends ever. However, as I opened the box, I realized that 27 years has far surpassed the life expectancy of these mostly cheap ...