Our New Tree

Fall is my favorite season! I love leaves under my feet, I love to wear sweaters, boots, crazy socks, scarves, gloves…you name it! I also love windstorms and the excitement of having our FIRST SNOW!! I am a kid at heart and I love every minute of what this season brings. We are now past Thanksgiving and headed into another Christmas season. I have been blessed with many great memories and traditions and so this time of year is also a blessing to me. I know that the overcast days can be overwhelming at times but I just pop a few extra Vitamin D pills and I am off and running! :)

Our family has the tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree! We have always enjoyed the adventure of bundling up, heading to a family owned tree farm in Arlington, meeting up with various family members and picking out the perfect tree. We have come to the point of knowing exactly what a Volz tree should look like. It has to be one that isn’t too full, the branches need to be far enough apart that our decorations have room to hang but they have to be close enough together to be able to fit a multitude of decorations and not show too much of the trunk. We like Noble firs that aren’t too wide at the bottom and we definitely like the fact that the tree is fresh because we typically have Christmas décor up from Thanksgiving until the New Year. In short…we are picky and that has worked well for us for years.

This year was different…the desire to maintain tradition was overcome with the desire to have a bit more time to just relax with the boys, avoid the rainy 42 degree tree hunting weather, save some money over the long haul, put some new traditions in place and just simplify. So…we finally made the switch. I never thought this day would come but here we are with an artificial tree in our living room. We like it but I believe we will come to love it. We don’t have to water the tree, or in many cases kick ourselves for not watering it. We don’t have pine needles everywhere, and there are no little spiders making our ceiling their home. We really do like the way it looks and we will now always have a tree that looks like the perfect Volz tree.

There are times in life when circumstances force change. Sometimes we invite that change and sometimes we have no way of predicting when it will occur. Regardless, it can take time to adjust. I don’t know what might be going on in your life right now but whatever the case may be I hope you will trust God to walk through the good times and the dark times, and to bring you to a place of contentment and trusting in HIM to supply your peace and joy regardless of the changes that may be happening around you.

Don’t forget to join us, at FUSiON, this Sunday! We are going to be talking about JOY!! It will be a great day to put new traditions in place and enjoy being with friends and our church family!

I hope to see you there! God bless you!
Elizabeth