The streets were nearly impassible because of the holiday traffic, and trying to get out of town was taking the better part of the morning. But the government employees in charge of finding a perfect tree for the governor and putting it up before the holiday knew there was no sense looking in the city, so, they headed out to the country to find one. As they traveled, they shared the usual small talk about supervisors, and salaries. They laughed at the craziness and phony religiosity of the holiday, and lamented the realization that, while most of the city would be off work this week, there would be no holiday for them. As the city continued to grow, the country seemed to be getting further away, and it was already noon when the trio stopped on the roadside to look over a small patch of green growing nearby. Approvingly, they scrambled down the hillside with their tools strapped to a sled. Once in the grove, the men split up, each heading in a separate direction. The first walked only a few steps before stopping beneath a struggling and crooked tree. It wasn’t the prettiest, but it was close to the road, and would require less dragging. The second man looked straight up, and noticing an older tree towering above the rest, began walking toward its base. There he noticed that the old tree had begun to rot some, but because of its size, it still seemed to him a good choice. The third man had walked some distance before locating a not so large, but beautifully straight tree. It was free from defect of any kind, and after some persuasion, he convinced the others that this was the perfect tree for which they had been sent. With axe and saw, they brought down the tree and loaded it onto the sled for the long ride home. It was already dark when they arrived back in town, and as the tree was to be raised at a public ceremony the very next day, they quickly set to work trimming back its branches and cutting it to exactly the right height. Next morning, the workers returned to where the tree was lying, and arranged to have it carried to the place where it would be raised. Because of its size, it took all three of those poor fellows to finally get the perfect tree in place and straight. Pleased with their accomplishment, they stood off at a little distance and admired their handy work. It truly was a beautiful tree, without blemish or curve. With a trunk so straight and true that the crowds who stopped to see it spoke of almost nothing else. And to this day, when people gather at the holidays, it is often that perfect tree which they remember best. However, the tree is only a part of the story, for though no one would argue that it was beautiful, it was the decoration those men placed on it which has always meant the most to me. For just before those government workers lifted that tree into position, they placed on it one single, gruesome decoration. Onto the branches of the world’s most perfect tree, those Roman soldiers nailed the world’s most perfect man. On the Feast of the Passover, they hung one single ornament named Jesus. And though that cross has itself become an ornament for many, he is the decoration I choose to remember, because he made the perfect tree in the first place, and then decorated it all by himself so that we might also be made...perfect.