THE TREE WITHIN THE TREE: A Christmas Story About Appreciation

Christmas has a way of reminding us of things we forget the rest of the year. Not the big things — the small, quiet truths. Like appreciation. Like love. Like seeing what is instead of mourning what isn’t.
That is how this story came to me.

It was the day before Christmas, and the tree lay on a pile of discarded pine boughs. While a few remaining trees stood upright on the lot, bravely beckoning last-minute shoppers — “Take me! Take me!” — this tree knew better. No one would take him.

He was scrawny. Scraggly. Undernourished. A Christmas tree that had clearly lost the genetic lottery, with broken branches and very little hope.

Then two children arrived.

---

I can see them so clearly — wandering through the lot, examining the remaining trees, checking price tags, shaking their heads. The kind of head shake children make when they already know the answer but are hoping for a miracle anyway.

The lot man noticed them and walked over.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.

“We would like a Christmas tree,” one of them said, “but we only have two dollars.”

“Ho, ho, ho,” the man laughed. “That won’t buy a proper Christmas tree. But you can have anything you can find in that pile over there for two dollars.”

And with that, the children ran toward the heap of pine rubbish.
The tree lay right on top.

---

They couldn’t believe their eyes — and the tree couldn’t believe his.

“It’s perfect!” they squealed, lifting him up, setting him upright, dancing around him as if he were the most magnificent tree on the lot.

The tree did what trees do when hope returns — he rose to the occasion. He fluffed himself out as best he could. Even though it wasn’t much.

Still, it was enough.

They grabbed him by his feet and headed for home, calling back, “Thanks, Mister!” The lot man waved and laughed again, looking suspiciously like Santa as he stuffed the two dollars into his pocket.

The tree was going to be a Christmas tree after all.

---

When the children dragged him through the door of their small home, calling out names — Mama! Charlie! Eloise! Leanne! — the room filled with excitement. The family gathered around as the tree was stood up in the corner.

“Oh my, oh my,” they exclaimed.
“It’s beautiful!”
“It’s lovely!”
“It’s divine!”

And just like that, something extraordinary happened.

With their praise, the tree became the tree-within-the-tree — a magnificent, full-bodied, full-scented, full-fledged Christmas tree. Not because his branches had changed, but because he had.

Mama clapped her hands. “I know what we’ll do. We’ll decorate it.”

---

“With what?” the children asked.

“Anything and everything.”

And they did.
Popcorn garlands. Tin-foil ornaments. Hair ribbons turned into bows. Baby rattles transformed into joyful music. A ballerina angel perched proudly at the top. Handmade creations carefully placed in just the right spots.

Nothing was expensive. Nothing was store-bought. Everything was perfect.

Left alone for a moment, the tree looked around the room. The chairs were chipped. The curtains stained. The couch torn. The rug spotted. And yet — it was beautiful. Because it was loved.

---

And then the tree saw something else.
The chair-within-the-chair.
The curtain-within-the-curtain.
The couch-within-the-couch.
The rug-within-the-rug.
As he loved them, they brightened.

This is the heart of the story for me — and the heart of Christmas itself.
Appreciation changes things.

---

Not the things themselves, but how we see them… and therefore how they become.

When the family stood back and admired their work, Mama sighed.
“No greater tree has there ever been.”

And each child echoed, “I love it.”

The tree-within-the-tree knew it was true. They loved what they had, not what they didn’t.

On this Christmas Eve — where presents were few but gifts were plentiful — the greatest gift of all was given to the tree: the gift of appreciation.

And in receiving it, he learned to love what he was, not what he wasn’t.

Which made him perfect.

That is the message I hope you carry with you — not just at Christmas, but all year long. When we appreciate what is, we allow it to become its fullest self. And sometimes, in doing that, we discover the beautiful tree-within-the-tree inside ourselves too.