I’d seriously be of the opinion that Christmas is all about family and friends and the people that mean the most to us.
So for me, that means my family converging for a few days in one place. This year we found a DVD that had been made from the cine camera footage that my family had taken in the pre-video age, put it in the player and watched those scenes again. All silent images, but shouting across the decades.
It covered various holidays and special times for my family from my parents’ wedding in the mid 60s up to the early 80s. As we watched it, there were comments that I imagine happen amongst all families every time they watch these things…
Who’s that?
Where’s that?
When was that?
Next most common was the laughs at the clothes and hair styles, and, as you’d expect with the passage of over 50 years there was sadness at the loss of so many people at the hands of time itself. But the comments that kept coming up that I would never have expected were to do with trees.
That was before the trees.
All those trees had to come down for those houses that are there now.
You could still see the sea then from their garden, now that view is just the trees.
Trees are a bit like orthodontics. It might take a while to get results, but with a little simple maintenance, you’ll enjoy those results for a long, long time. Trees and good teeth never date something as negatively as clothes and hair fashions. And as those home movies reminded us, time will be moving on regardless of our plans or desires.
The best time to plant a tree was years ago. The next best time is now.
And that’s a bit like orthodontics, too.