I bought a beautiful Christmas Spider at a local craft sale last month and with it came this story:
A widowed woman was worried as Christmas approached. She worked very hard and was able to keep her children warm and fed but had no extra money for Christmas presents. She did not want to disappoint her children with nothing to give them, so on Christmas Eve after she put her children to bed, she went into the forest and cut a small evergreen tree to bring home to decorate for the holiday. She adorned it with berries, bits of ribbon, and Christmas cookies before she went to bed, hoping that the tree might make her children’s empty Christmas a little brighter.
While she slept, spiders crept out of the corners and crevices of their home. The spiders knew how hard the woman worked and had compassion for her efforts. So with generous spirit they decided to help her, and they spent hours spinning their silk to drape over the branches of the small tree in an attempt to brighten it with their shiny web strands. Late in the night, Santa came to the house bringing gifts for the children. He chuckled at the spiders’ diligent work, and saw how the tree was much improved, but he suspected the widow would be heartbroken to see her tree covered in spider webs. So he turned the webs into pure silver and the tree shone brightly in the moonlight.
In the morning the woman and her children were in awe of the beautiful tree and they danced for joy around it. The woman was grateful for the kind help she had received and knew it was going to be a wonderful Christmas after all. And this is why Christmas trees are traditionally decorated with silver tinsel, in honor of the industrious and kindly spiders (who had a little help from Santa).
May you have a holiday season filled with generosity of spirit, compassion, beauty and joy. Lend a helping hand when you can, and celebrate with gratitude the miracles around us every day.
A widowed woman was worried as Christmas approached. She worked very hard and was able to keep her children warm and fed but had no extra money for Christmas presents. She did not want to disappoint her children with nothing to give them, so on Christmas Eve after she put her children to bed, she went into the forest and cut a small evergreen tree to bring home to decorate for the holiday. She adorned it with berries, bits of ribbon, and Christmas cookies before she went to bed, hoping that the tree might make her children’s empty Christmas a little brighter.
While she slept, spiders crept out of the corners and crevices of their home. The spiders knew how hard the woman worked and had compassion for her efforts. So with generous spirit they decided to help her, and they spent hours spinning their silk to drape over the branches of the small tree in an attempt to brighten it with their shiny web strands. Late in the night, Santa came to the house bringing gifts for the children. He chuckled at the spiders’ diligent work, and saw how the tree was much improved, but he suspected the widow would be heartbroken to see her tree covered in spider webs. So he turned the webs into pure silver and the tree shone brightly in the moonlight.
In the morning the woman and her children were in awe of the beautiful tree and they danced for joy around it. The woman was grateful for the kind help she had received and knew it was going to be a wonderful Christmas after all. And this is why Christmas trees are traditionally decorated with silver tinsel, in honor of the industrious and kindly spiders (who had a little help from Santa).
May you have a holiday season filled with generosity of spirit, compassion, beauty and joy. Lend a helping hand when you can, and celebrate with gratitude the miracles around us every day.
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