Evocative Christmas Ornaments

This year, we didn't decorate the house until the week before Christmas. With our busy schedule, we debated whether we should even bother. But ultimately, we did, and the process of setting up the tree reminded me of some people who had once been very special to us.

A few years ago, my wife and I made some animal-shaped ornaments, and gave them out as presents to young couples in our Sunday School class. One couple, whom we had grown close to, couldn't make it that Sunday, so we took it by their house. They were intelligent, charismatic people, with two young children continually bursting with energy. 

But appearances can be deceiving, and no one, not even talented individuals with telepathic abilities, can predict the future. As time passed, we learned that they continually argued with each other. At first, these arguments didn't seem important. But over time, it grew clear that neither was happy with the other. Eventually, she asked him for a divorce. He asked her to stay with him for the sake of their children. 

In the United States, no person can force another to remain married to someone they no longer love. So she pursued the divorce, and he reluctantly accommodated her desire to ensure joint-custody of the children. In our conversations, he asserted that, had he lived in a country that required both parties agree to the divorce, he would have refused her request. But he didn't, so he decided to end their marriage amicably. 

She hooked up with her BFF, a young woman with two children who was also extricating herself from a failed marriage. Meanwhile, he maintained that he would never marry again, that it was wrong to remarry, regardless of fault or circumstance. Then, he joined the Catholic Church, and met a beautiful young woman with three children from a previous marriage. A priest there told him he could get an annulment and marry again, that it would be okay to do so. After investigating Catholic teachings on this matter, he concluded that the priest was correct, that he and his wife had never truly been married in the eyes of God. So he sought an annulment, and married for the second time.

For a variety of reasons, we lost touch with these intelligent, charismatic people. So I don't know what happened to the ornament we made for them, or if either of them still have it. But wherever they are, and whatever they are doing, I hope they're happily and harmoniously celebrating Christmas with the special people in their lives.

I'm glad I took the time to decorate the house for Christmas this year.

Dragon Dave