Birds of Good Will - Sunday Post
In early December my father and mother would pack up all three kids into the family car., In our winter coats, rubber boots, mittens and scarves to make our annual pilgrimage to a small tree farm north of town called Eby’s Pines. This was before climate change, when the winters near Lake Michigan were consistently snowy and often quite cold. We’d wander through the rows of trees and finally choose one with a straight trunk, without any big gaps, and always taller than my father - the very tallest person we knew. After my mother (who was also in a head scarf and boots) approve our choice, my father and the farmer would tie the tree to the top of the station wagon and we’d carry it home, where it would be moved indoors and set up in the basement of our 1960’s bi-level. I remember how it made the house smell of fresh cut wood and pine sap and how I loved the glow of all those old-fashioned colored lights. We’d pull out the simple ornaments, the ones we’d brought home from school or church fashioned from felt and popsicle sticks, glitter and macaroni glued on painted cardboard. But first, before we filled up all the lower branches we could reach, my mother would open up her most cherished box of ornaments, the ones carefully stored in white tissue paper, sometimes dangling a few leftover needles from last years tree. It was a ritual for my mother to always place the first ornament at the very top of the tree, which was a painted glass bird her grandmother (my great grandmother) had given to her. It had a few fluffy feathers for a tail and clip where its’ feet should be, which is how it attached to it’s place of honor right in the front on one of the highest branches. My mother would always say, “If you have a bird in your tree at Christmas time, you’ll have good luck all year long.” This ritual delighted me as a little girl, and I loved seeing my great-grandmother’s hopes and blessing for my mother (and for us her children) made visible in this auspicious glass bird which that had within its silvery heart the power to invoked a full year of well being. My great grandmother passed from this world before I was old enough to remember her, but I felt the echo of her love every time that little bird was unwrapped and set upon the highest bough.
All these years later, I still put up a holiday tree in early December and the very first ornament placed in the front on the very top branch is my great-grandmother’s bird. Even with years of careful handling, bits of the paint have worn off the glass, and its elegant tail has been reduced to a few stubby pin feathers. And yet, there it is each year in the place of honor, shining with the hopes and longings passed from one generation to the next. When my mother passed from this mystery to the next, the ornament was passed to me. Maybe because I was so charmed by the bird and its power to keep me and my own daughter supplied for a year of safety and good luck, I started collecting bird ornaments. I picked them up here and there, at stores, or art fairs or when traveling. They are made of glass, ceramic, fabric, hand carved wood. I found a red cardinal in a bargain bin, a wooden chickadee and titmouse, a great horned owls, a loon I found in a gas station in Wisconsin, a blue bird and woodpecker, a paper crane, a sweet brown wren, and more. Friends who know of my perchance for the auspicious nature of having a number of birds in my christmas tree gave me a glass mocking bird, a gourd bat (almost a bird), a beaded hummingbird and others I cherish. I have more than enough birds to cover my tree with hopes and wishes for a lucky new year, but every now and then I’ll still see another bird ornament that catches my eye and I pick it up. That happened this week when I was shopping for christmas cookie ingredients at a local grocery store. It was a lovely little painted glass bird, a plume of fluffy feathers for a tail and a clip where the feet would have been. It was very similar to that original bird given to my mother by my great grandmother, and even though I really didn’t need another bird ornament, I placed in the basket.
When it was time to check out, the fellow who had probably been working non-stop all morning said, “Wow, that’s a cool ornament.” Which I followed with the very midwestern response of stopping in a check out line to have a conversation about weather or dogs or kids or in this case christmas ornaments. I told the fellow and the about my great grandmother’s bird and that having a bird in your holiday tree would assure good luck all year. He said, “I really love that story…good luck all year huh…man, I could use me some of that” and smiled as he held up the bird to look at it again.
So I gave it to him.
“Why don’t you keep it. I have more birds than I need. I don’t know if you have a Christmas tree, or would just like a little good luck, but I think I picked it up for you.” He looked at me, “Really? I didn’t last year, but I think I’m going to put up a little tree this year.” I said, “Yes, then this is definitely for you and hopefully it will bring you luck and well being all year.” He grinned, and showed the little shiny bird to the woman who had just come over to help me bag my groceries.
There are legacies that come to us in so many shapes and forms, and honestly, some are easier to carry than others. Holidays can be tricky that way, especially living in a culture that promotes a lot of unreasonable expectations of “perfection” and non-stop activity. But, having a bird (or many birds) in my Christmas tree is one of the legacies I carry with a nod and smile to the ancestors.
Thank you everyone, for all the good will you’ve brought to me and to this community this year. Its been a gathering of spirits and a gathering of wings.
Question and practice
Maybe this is the week to give something away….not just the gifts we buy online and wrap in blue or red paper. Maybe instead look for a moment where a spontaneous gift feels right. To offer to babysit for a friend who needs a break, maybe call up you sister just to say hi, write a letter youve been meaning to write, may offer your seat on the bus. Forgive someone…whether or not they deserve it. Forgiveness is a actually for you any. Taking lunch to a neighbor who’s been ill, or take something out of your shopping cart and pay it forward. Maybe just a smile on street for someone passing by.
Just For Fun
I’m attaching a PDF of a bird created for you. If you’d like you can download it, print and cut it out. You can hang it on your tree….and if you don’t do Christmas trees, you can tape it up on your refrigerator or some such place. It is my hope and wish for you for the coming year my friends - comfort and courage, safety and well being, time for excitement and delight, time for quiet and rest, time for gathering in and for time letting go, time to welcome the new and to feel the support of the cloud of ancestors.
This is a beautiful story, Carrie. I was noticing, as I put up my tree this year, how many bird ornaments I have: a chickadee, a toucan, several hummingbirds, a scarlet tanager, a quetzal, and at the top, just below the simple woven star, a felted wood thrush, the bird of my heart. Now I have an additional meaning to connect with them all and I'll think of you each Christmas because of it. I also have a large number of invertebrates on my tree: octopus, stinkbug, butterfly, snail, two red ants playing instruments, a weevil, a grasshopper. They need celebrating, too!
Birds are symbolic in many ways.
For years, bird ornaments were the first to grace the tree in our home.
A bird to represent each family member was placed in the highest-most branches, with two large doves, the head of household, keeping watch, and offering protection, at the very top of the tree.
In later years, with our children in their own homes, my husband and I often choose to forgo a tree, and decorate the two mantles, instead.
The head of household doves, now on the mantle, continue to protect, keep watch, and add joy.
Good luck abounds.
All best to you.❤️