No aluminum Christmas Trees allowed!

I just watched "Charlie Brown Christmas" for the umpteenth time in my almost 39 years on this earth and each time it's always such an inspiration to watch.

Here's Charlie Brown:

• He's lamenting the commercialization of Christmas (as of when this originally aired) and the fact that his dog's house is probably more decorated than his own home.
• His friend Lucy suggests he does something to take his mind off his troubles - like directing the group's Christmas play.
• When he tries to direct the play, all the kids have their own agenda and do their own thing.
• They send him to get a Christmas tree (a pink aluminum tree) and he comes back with the tiny little Christmas tree from hell.

This is what I like: when Charlie complains that he can't get anything right he asks if anyone knows the real meaning of Christmas. Linus is brave enough to stand up and share a summary of the Christmas story from the Gospels (Matthew/Mark/Luke/John).

The final scenes show Charlie Brown and company taking the tree back to his home and decorating the tree from hell with Snoopy's decorations. Lo and behold a new tree comes forth.

I think there's a good spiritual analogy here - look at John 3:16 recognizing that because God sent his son into the world, He can remake our own personal Christmas trees from hell into something quite beautiful.