One of the highlights of the Christmas season is erecting and decorating the tree. My wife, kids and I have done this yearly ritual together from the inception of our clan and it has really has turned into a cherished family tradition. Over the past couple of years we've toyed with the idea of leaving the tree up all year and decorating it differently during each holiday. It would give us an interesting project to work on, allow us to spread holiday cheer year round, and also save us from the task of taking down our artificial tree and returning it to the storage closet. Well, we've decided that this is the year to make that idea a reality, and perhaps even turn this into a new tradition.
For the first tree of the season, we've opted to go with what we're calling our "Let Freedom Ring Tree". Inspired by Dr Martin Luther King, this tree recognizes MLK day with elements associated with his public life and fight for equality. The elements of the tree include multi colored bells, state-shaped ornaments, white and red flowers, a white ribbon with red spots, stockings ornament, and a cross. The significance of each of these elements is described below.
Bells
A major element of this tree are the collective group of bells that symbolize Dr. Kings "I Have a Dream" speech refrain to let freedom ring. We put these different colored bells on the tree so that they may ring like King called for freedom to ring for people of all races and creeds.
State-shaped Ornaments
In the aforementioned "I Have a Dream" speech King mentions 8 mountainous states from which he wants freedom to ring: New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Colorado, California, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi. Thus, in addition to the bells, our tree has an ornament in the shape of each one of those states as well. The ornaments were created by using states from a jumbo puzzle and spray painting them with textured spray paint.
White & Red Flowers
|
|
 |
The white flowers in conjunction with the white bells symbolize peace which is a pillar of what Dr. King stood for. The red flowers in conjunction with the red bells represent the passion with which King railed against inequality, and the bloodshed that he ultimately resulted.
White Ribbon with Red Spot
The white color mixed with red spots of the ribbon that circles the tree, represents (along with the other white and red elements on the tree) how the fight for peace requires internal passion and is intermixed with bloodshed.
Stockings Ornament
This ornament has stockings for each of my family and represents us as a unit.
Cross
The cross represents the faith that King professed and is placed over the stockings ornament to symbolize God watching over my family.
See the other trees from this year by clicking the link(s) below:
