Today's Christmas tale is entitled A Million Knees.
This fairy tale was inspired by my mom,
Who at over 80 years young was the office manager and coordinator for a family Christmas tree farm.
Suitable for children of all ages,
We're about to go on an adventure with a seedling as it's taken from its home in the forest,
Is replanted in a Christmas tree lot,
Hears new noises of the outer world,
Distracting it from the loving,
Comforting vibrations it once heard and felt inside,
Wrestles with shock,
Despair,
Self-doubt,
The judgments of others,
Anger,
Feeling alone,
And then rediscovers who it truly is.
As you listen,
Use your creative imagination to picture the words you're about to hear in your mind.
This will build or increase your creative imagination,
Talents,
And skills the same way that physical exercising builds your muscles.
Are you wondering why it's important to increase your creative imaginations?
It's because our level of creativity is the basis on which our entire world and success is built,
And that's especially true for our young children.
Your children's level of creativity is the basis on which their entire world and future success is built.
So right now,
Light up your imaginations like a brightly lit Christmas tree and create pictures in your mind as you listen.
Get comfy.
It's not a long tail,
But it's not a short one either.
Goldilocks might say it's not a papa bear or a baby bear tail.
It's a mama bear tail.
A million me's.
Have you ever felt your body light up like a fiber optic Christmas tree?
Once upon a time.
No,
Once upon a Christmas time.
Well,
Actually once upon a time,
Five years before the Christmas time of this story,
There was a tiny seed sitting beneath the rich black soil in a huge forest of pine trees.
A tiny seed that simply was,
Simply was nothing but everything.
Empty yet full on the inside,
Nestled in its shell within the rich black soil of Mother Earth.
One day,
This tiny seed started to feel something.
It started to feel like it was vibrating inside,
And these vibrations seemed to form sounds it could hear inside itself.
It's easy to see.
It's in you.
It's in me.
It also felt like its skin was getting tighter and tighter.
These vibrations grew stronger and stronger,
And the sounds became louder and louder.
It's easy to see.
It's in you.
It's in me.
It's easy to see.
I'm in every plant,
Every tree.
It's in you.
It's in me.
The tightness it felt became tighter and tighter.
Then,
One bright and sunny day,
As it was listening to,
It's easy to see,
It's in you,
It's in me,
And feeling the tightness of its skin becoming so tight,
The tiny seed felt like it was going to burst open,
And it did just that.
It burst open,
And a tiny sprout sprang forth through its skin.
With each passing moment,
This sprout pushed and pushed its way to the surface,
Until one day,
It burst into the sunshine and fresh air.
Its tip started turning green,
And the tiny seed had become a seedling.
It loved feeling the gentle breezes,
The kiss of leaves floating by,
The warmth of the sun and vibrancy of the pure mountain air.
It loved hearing the sounds that still vibrated inside itself,
Moving up and down its shoot,
Which was getting stronger and taller.
With each passing moment,
It's easy to see,
It's in you,
It's in me.
It's easy to see.
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
Every tree.
It's in you.
It's in me.
Then,
One day,
It heard something different than it had ever heard before.
Footsteps,
And it felt something different,
Like the earth was shaking all around it.
Suddenly,
It felt itself and the soil all around it being lifted up out of the earth,
Lifted up out of its bed in the rich,
Black,
Forest soil.
Soon,
It felt vibrations like it had never felt before,
Up and down,
Back and forth,
As it was being transported in the back of a large truck down the curvy mountain road.
With all the jiggling,
When all the jiggling stopped,
The seedling felt itself being lifted up once more,
And this time,
Instead of being put in the back of a truck,
It was placed back in the earth.
Not the rich,
Black soil of the forest,
But back in the earth.
Peering out through the tippy top of its trunk,
The seedling could see other seedlings lined up,
Planted row after row.
It had never seen rows like this in the forest.
In the forest,
Trees just popped up anywhere they wanted.
It didn't know it was now living in what was called a Christmas tree farm.
It did know it was fed food it had never tasted in the forest.
It did know it was being watered with more than just the rain falling from the sky.
It could feel it was still growing,
Getting taller and taller,
As branch after branch burst forth through its trunk,
Like its trunk once burst out of its seed skin.
And it could still hear,
It's easy to see,
It's in you,
It's in me.
It's easy to see,
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
Every tree.
It's in you,
It's in me,
Though it had no idea of what this could possibly mean.
It did know that the vibrations,
The tingling sensations of it's easy to see,
It's in you,
It's in me.
It's easy to see,
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
Every tree.
It's in you,
It's in me,
Tingling sensations that felt very wonderful,
Very wonderful.
Like when your mom kisses you on the forehead or hugs you with her tender,
Tender love,
Love,
Love.
Year after year passed by as the seedling grew into a tree.
One tree amidst many other trees in the Christmas tree farm.
In addition to being fed and watered,
Every now and then,
It felt a sharp,
Quick pain,
A pain that didn't last very long.
It was the pain of being trimmed so it would look like a Christmas tree.
A pain that would instantly disappear within the soothing vibrations of it's easy to see,
It's in you,
It's in me.
It's easy to see,
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
Every tree.
It's in you,
It's in me.
Growing taller and taller,
Fuller and fuller with each passing year,
This Christmas tree was quite happy.
It enjoyed the sunshine and rain,
Especially the rain.
Raindrops were a special treat,
Much tastier than the water sprayed on it by sprinklers or dripping around its base from plastic pipes.
It loved feeling the breezes and winds whistling through its long,
Thin pine needles.
It especially loved all the different songs created by the breezes and winds whistling through all the Christmas trees in the farm.
Gentle breezes created gentle sounds to stir the soul.
Howling winds made the trees swing and sway back and forth,
Clearing dust off of their needles.
You can make sounds like the wind too.
Can you whistle?
Let's hear your whistle.
Go ahead,
Whistle.
Can you pretend you are the wind blowing through the pine trees?
The Christmas tree loved being a Christmas tree amidst this family of Christmas trees that had been happily growing together,
Basking in the sun together,
Creating music together for five years.
In moments where there was no wind,
Usually in the deep silence of starlit nights,
The Christmas tree even thought it heard all the other trees silently singing.
It's easy to see.
It's in you.
It's in me.
It's easy to see.
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
And every tree.
It's in you.
It's in me.
Then one day,
After five years of growing taller and taller,
Fuller and fuller,
The tree felt another new sensation.
Someone was twisting a wire with a tag around one of its branches,
A tag that had a price,
$111.
Several days later,
It heard something quite different than the sound of breezes and winds whistling through the pine needles and the inner comfort of,
It's easy to see.
It's in you.
It's in me.
It's easy to see.
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
Every tree.
It's in you.
It's in me.
It heard the sound of voices,
Lots of voices.
It heard happy voices.
It heard the voices of children laughing and squealing in delight.
I'd like to hear you laugh right now.
Go ahead.
Laugh.
Laugh from deep down in your belly.
The Christmas tree also heard deep voices,
Adult voices,
Making comments about the height,
Color,
Shape,
And other features of the trees.
Comments that seemed somewhat critical at times,
As if one tree was better than another.
It heard dogs barking.
It heard and could feel the sounds and vibrations of footsteps.
Footsteps like it heard and felt just before it was plucked as a seedling from the rich black soil of the forest.
Only this time,
There were lots of footsteps.
There were lots of footsteps,
Lots of happy voices,
And lots of seemingly critical voices coming from lots of children and adults coming to pick out their very own special Christmas tree.
Every now and then,
The Christmas tree could feel fingers sliding along its needles as people wanted to smell its fragrant pine scent.
The tree liked this feeling,
The softness and intent behind it,
And sharing its pine scent.
But some people tried to pull its needles out to see if it was fresh.
The Christmas tree didn't like this so much.
Right after these terrible tugs,
However,
The Christmas tree always heard,
It's easy to see.
It's in you.
It's in me.
It's easy to see.
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
Every person,
Every tree.
It's in you.
It's in me.
Amidst all this commotion,
The Christmas tree saw other Christmas trees being cut down with the sharp razor teeth of saws.
It saw people with very happy smiles carrying those Christmas trees away.
It wondered why this was happening.
It had no idea people were taking them home to decorate them with bright lights,
Shiny ornaments,
Strained popcorn,
And other garlands,
And much,
Much more in celebration of Christmas.
It had no idea what it might feel like to be cut down,
To be cut off from its roots,
No longer able to absorb the nutrients from the soil.
To no longer feel the vibrant life force of sap flowing through its trunk and branches.
To have dry,
Pale,
Droopy needles.
It did know,
However,
That it was starting to feel like it was missing out on something.
Why is no one picking me?
It did hear people say things like,
This tree's too short,
This tree's too tall,
This tree's branches are too close together,
This tree has holes in it,
This tree is way too big around the middle.
It heard people say these things about it and other Christmas trees nearby.
The Christmas tree also got very confused when one person would say a tree was too tall,
And then someone else would come to the same tree and say,
This one's perfect,
Let's get this one.
How can one person say it's too tall and another say it's perfect,
Wondered the Christmas tree.
It didn't realize different people had different needs and preferences for their very own special Christmas tree,
And that some people were just plain judgmental.
It did realize that day after day more and more trees were being cut down and being carried away by people with big smiles who seemed very happy.
It did realize it was starting to wonder things it had never wondered before,
Like why is no one picking me?
Am I too tall?
Am I too short?
Do I have holes,
Open spaces?
Do I have too many branches?
Am I crooked,
Not standing up straight?
Question after question coming from comet after comet it had heard,
Poured through the Christmas tree so loudly,
It could no longer appreciate the breeze of the sun.
There was so much chatter going on inside the Christmas tree,
It could no longer hear the inner voice saying,
It's easy to see,
It's in you,
It's in me,
It's easy to see,
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
Every person,
Every tree,
It's in you,
It's in me.
Getting more and more frantic that it wasn't being pipped,
Not being cut down and carried away by a happy person,
Even though it didn't know what getting cut down meant,
The Christmas tree started screaming,
Pick me,
Pick me.
Every time someone walked by,
The Christmas tree would scream from every pore of bark,
Every root,
Every leaf,
Pick me,
Pick me.
As the days before Christmas became fewer and fewer,
Less and less people walked by the tree,
Until one day there were no more people and no more trees,
No more trees except the Christmas tree.
I wish I could say Santa came on Christmas Eve to take the Christmas tree to a needy child,
But I can't.
You see,
The Christmas tree was not pipped,
And even though I know there is usually a very good reason why things do or do not happen,
Why one Christmas tree gets picked and another one doesn't,
This little Christmas tree that didn't get to be a Christmas tree didn't know that.
This little Christmas tree could not believe it wasn't pipped.
What happened?
What happened?
It was shocked.
What now?
What does this mean?
It felt worse than when people tried tugging its pine needles to see if it was fresh.
It felt worse than when it was being snipped and trimmed to look like a Christmas tree.
It was so shocked at not being pipped that its sap started dripping from the ends of its needles like teardrops sliding down your cheeks.
This felt very painful to the Christmas tree.
Why didn't I get picked to go with one of those smiling faces?
Why am I the only one left behind?
As its sap dripped and dripped,
And as question after question,
Doubt after doubt,
Chattered and chattered away,
The Christmas tree experienced another new feeling,
Surges of tremendous power,
A tremendous power rising up from way down in its roots,
A power that felt hotter than the blazing sun on the hottest of summer days.
Has your body ever felt like this?
Has your body ever felt like it was so hot it would explode?
Have you ever been angry?
The Christmas tree was angry.
Angry it wasn't pipped.
Angry it was all alone.
Why am I all alone?
What's wrong with me?
And what do you suppose the Christmas tree did with all this anger?
It couldn't punch anyone,
Thankfully.
It couldn't yell at anyone,
Thankfully.
All it could do was feel the anger,
Be with it.
And by just feeling and being with this very powerful,
Boiling anger,
It started to disappear like the fiery flames in a fireplace if you don't add any more wood or fuel to the fire,
If you just let it be.
All this anger did get the Christmas tree sap flowing again.
There was no more pain,
No more tightness,
No more sap dripping from the ends of its needles.
Now there just seemed to be a huge hole of emptiness.
The Christmas tree wished it could just disappear like the anger,
Wished it could just turn to ashes like a log burned in a fireplace.
It didn't care that the sun was shining brightly or the breezes were whistling sweet music through its needles.
It really couldn't feel the sun's warmth or hear the music of the wind.
It couldn't feel its flowing sap or its bright green pine needles being kissed by soft breezes.
It couldn't hear that inner voice whispering,
It's easy to see,
It's in you,
It's in me.
It's easy to see,
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
Every person,
Every tree.
It's in you,
It's in me.
The little Christmas tree felt more alone than all alone.
With only the stumps of what were once Christmas trees all around it,
The little Christmas tree felt hopeless.
A few days which felt like a few years passed by just like this,
With the Christmas tree feeling more alone,
More hopeless,
More helpless with each passing second.
Drowning deep in its own despair,
The Christmas tree was suddenly startled by noises louder than it had ever heard.
Men and women were digging up the stumps of the Christmas trees that had been cut.
They were throwing the stumps into a machine that pulverized them,
Instantly turning them into sawdust.
Have you ever seen one of those trees?
The shrill sounds of the stump and roots hitting the swiftly spinning saw blades made every needle on the Christmas tree's branches tremble in fear.
The Christmas tree was now feeling quite alive again,
But only because it was shocked out of its state of lonely despair.
Days went by like this,
Days filled with fear,
Wondering what would happen to it.
Days surrounded by workers that didn't look anywhere near as happy as the people who had come to cut and take the Christmas trees in the weeks earlier.
Nights went by like this too,
Nights so silent that the chatter of fear on the inside seemed louder and louder.
Chatter that prevented the Christmas tree from hearing,
From being comforted by,
That inner voice softly whispering,
It's easy to see,
It's in you,
It's in me,
It's easy to see.
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
Every person,
Every tree,
It's in you,
It's in me.
Do not fear,
Do not shed a tear,
I am very near.
Be of good cheer and you will hear,
It's easy to see,
It's in you,
It's in me,
It's easy to see.
I'm in every plant,
Every animal,
Every person,
Every tree,
It's in you,
It's in me.
Do not fear,
Do not shed a tear,
Listen with an attentive ear,
I am very near.
Through happiness and sadness,
I am here.
Through anticipation and disappointment,
I am here.
Through anger and fear,
I am here.
I am in you and you are in me,
It's easy to see.
I'm in every plant,
Person,
Animal,
And tree,
I am in you and you are in me.
You are much more than a Christmas tree,
Even though the Christmas tree could not hear,
Could not feel the soothing comfort of these words through all the chatter,
Things were about to change.
Things were about to really ring this little Christmas tree's bell,
Rock its world,
Shatter its concepts,
Shred its beliefs,
Blow its mind,
And return it to what it simply was all the time,
Nothing but everything.
Only this time,
The little Christmas tree would know,
Feel,
Be,
And never ever forget what it was and what it is.
Do you know what was about to happen?
Would you like to know?
It may very well ring your bell,
Rock your world,
Shatter your concepts,
Shred your beliefs,
Blow your mind.
Well,
One morning as a new day dawned and the workers returned to the Christmas tree farm for one last time,
The little Christmas tree felt the cold steel links of a heavy chain being wrapped around its trunk.
The other end of the chain was hooked to a big truck.
The truck's engine roared and suddenly the entire tree roots,
Trunk,
Branches,
Sap,
And needles was jerked up and out of the ground.
Whoa,
What's happening now?
Shocked all the way from its tiniest root hairs to its needle tips,
The Christmas tree couldn't hear.
My dearest tree,
Do not fear.
I am here.
I am you and you are me.
As it was lifted and tossed into the swiftly spinning saw blades that had already pulverized all the Christmas tree stumps,
Within seconds the Christmas tree was shredded into smithereens,
Millions and millions of teeny tiny specks.
And each and every one of those teeny tiny specks was ecstatically shouting,
OMG,
Oh my God,
I am much more than a Christmas tree.
I'm a million me's.
Every tiny speck is me.
What's in you is in me.
I am you and you are me.
We are in every plant,
Person,
Animal and tree.
Through happiness and sadness,
I was in you and you were in me.
Through anticipation and disappointment,
I was in you and you were in me.
Through anger and fear,
I was in you and you were in me.
As seed,
Seedling and tree,
I was in you and you were in me.
You are one of my million me's.
OMG,
Oh my God,
We are a million you's,
A million me's.
And right now,
Right this very second,
As you are reading or listening to this tale,
There's a voice inside you,
Softly singing,
My dearest angel,
My dearest friend,
It's easy to see we are a million me's.
It's easy to see I'm in you,
You're in me.
It's easy to see we're in every plant,
Person,
Animal and tree.
I'm in you,
You're in me.
Do not worry,
Do not fear,
For I am always near.
Be of good cheer,
Never letting anger near.
I am here,
I am there,
I am everywhere.
We are a million me's.
We are the dolphins in the sea,
The honey in the tea.
We buzz as a bee and hee-haw as a donkey.
We are a million me's.
It's easy to see I'm in you and you're in me.
It's easy to see all you need do is simply be.
Whether you agree or disagree,
I'm in you and you're in me.
Whether you're jolly or melancholy,
I'm in you and you're in me.
Whether tardy or timely,
I'm in you and you're in me.
OMG,
Oh my god,
We're a million me's.
Whether free or busy,
I am you and you are me.
Whether healthy or sickly,
Flabby or skinny,
I am you and you are me.
OMG,
Oh my god,
I am you and you are me.
And we are millions of me's.
Keep your mind,
Heart and body as brightly lit as a fiber optic Christmas tree.
And with wishes for your everlasting happiness and peace,
With prayers for peace among all people,
And with great love,
With great respect for your individual adventure through life,
Bliss Fairy and I love you.
