Preparation and Waiting.

Lea and I decided to do something different during Thanksgiving weekend of 2006.

Early in our married life we found a local Christmas tree farm in Knoxville and cut down our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving weekend so that we would have our tree up for the better part of 6 weeks. That has been a part of our rhythm for all of our married years since . On that Thanksgiving weekend of 2006, we decided that we would like to find a fresh, Frasier Fir for our tree and discovered that the closest Frasier Firs were in the western North Carolina mountains. So a decision. Would we drive the 90 minutes with our 3 boys to cut down a Frasier Fir tree? Seemed risky. Seemed like it could be a bit long just to get a particular kind of tree. And Kroger has 'em out front anyway. After wrestling about the risk reward of a half day journey to have a particular kind of tree, we set out for our first trip to Boyd Mountain Tree Farm in Maggie Valley, North Carolina.

Great decision. We played Plus One "This is Christmas" as we rolled out of the driveway in Knoxville. A Cracker Barrel stop in Newport before arriving at Boyd Mountain and then as you near the farm you can see a mountainside filled with Frasier Firs from a mile away. It is a beautiful, winter sight. The moments have been priceless. A nemesis dog puncturing Trent's football, lots of brother conflict, a bathroom "incident" on the side of the mountain, snow one year, friends and family joining us, the addition of wives in the tree hunt and the yearly brother picture with Santa Claus at the foot of the mountain. And primarily the rhythm of slowing together as a family to enjoy each other. Rich, rich remembering. So thankful that we took that first trip even though the risk seemed plausible.

We made our journey to Boyd Mountain for 13 years. This year, we will not travel to Boyd for our tree. We have met Mr. Weaver who grows Frasier Firs in Boone, NC on a 180 acres of land. We stood with him at the bottom of Signal over the last couple of nights and listened to him tell us stories of his daddy growing Christmas trees in the mountains of Boone and how it's his baby now. He grows a LOT of Christmas trees. They go all over the United States. And he comes himself, in person, to one spot to sell every year . Just below Signal Mountain. He told us stories next to the fire under his Christmas tent. Very tenderly, Lea and I picked out a tree last night at Mr. Weavers. We will take Trey and Grannie tonight to pick it up together. The "Sunbrary" at Beacon Hall has a tall ceiling. We bought our first 10 foot tree last night. With a heritage of stories brimming inside, we are tenderly excited to prepare a new place for Advent and Christmas.

As I wrote last week about the rhythm of the Christian year, this coming Thanksgiving weekend also marks the beginning of the season of Advent. A season of preparation and waiting. We are invited to intentionally prepare, watch and wait for the arrival of the Christ child in the season of Advent. Of course, Jesus has already been born. We are given the chance to orient or re-orient our lives back into Christ focus and away from Me focus. That 's part of what the preparation and waiting does. It orients or re-orients. A first time orienting or a 1000th time re-orienting. Both are a gift. Advent is an invitation to begin again in the wonder of Christ being formed in us. You're invited to consider it this first weekend of Advent this Thanksgiving weekend.

Standing with Lea and listening to the tree grower himself tell his tree growing stories was helpful for my heart in a time of transition. I enjoyed it with Lea. I did some research this morning. It takes a Frasier Fir about 7-10 years to reach 7 feet tall. Probably another 3-4 years to push on to 10 feet. There is a good chance that in 2006, 13 years ago, when our family cut down our first, fresh, Frasier Fir on Boyd Mountain in Maggie Valley, Mr. Weaver was planting the seedling of the tree in the mountains of Boone that Lea and I bought for Beacon Hall last night, all 10 glorious feet of her.

We listened to Plus One "This is Christmas" as we drove down the mountain last night.

The season of Advent.

Preparation and Waiting.

Preparation.

Waiting.

Seedling to glorious evergreen.

This story is familiar.

There's more.