Kia ora! Our excellent adventure continues with a Christmas
story that I would like to call “The Driftwood Christmas Tree”. I have always believed that the best, most
heart-touching stories are the ones that are true. Knowing that something
really happened, for me at least, leaves me a little more thoughtful. It leaves
me thinking a little more deeply about life and what happens while we are
living it. So, I hope that you enjoy this week’s installment of our Adventures
in Paradise .
“The Driftwood
Christmas Tree”
Jenine Brown has
always been a caretaker of the environment. She is a recycler and a composter.
She never buys new when she can reuse old. She is thoughtful and careful about
her surroundings. She grows as much of the family grocery list as she can and
has taught her children to leave as small a footprint as is humanly possible.
She has much the same approach when it comes to celebrating special occasions,
including and especially Christmas.
Years ago Jenine began teaching her children the real
meaning of Christmas. They were instructed in the true reason for the season
and it changed the way that they celebrated the holiday. Although there were
still presents under the tree, there were fewer of them and they were more
thoughtful. Stockings were still hung, waiting to be filled, but they were filled
differently and with more advanced planning. Eventually, as the children turned
into teenagers, the task of thoughtfully filling the stockings fell to them.
Each of the siblings, in secret, drew the name of another, and spent the whole
year leading up to each Christmas collecting small items to be placed in that
persons stocking. As you can imagine, the result of the Christmas stocking idea
was that each brother and sister took more time to get to know members of their
family. They listened more intently and paid more attention. It became a
year-long game to find ways of personalizing the items that would go into that
sock. Even though there were still a few gifts under the tree, Parekura Brown,
their father, told us that those larger boxes are ignored as the now, nearly
adult children race each other to the bulging Christmas stockings that have
become their favorite part of the day.
True to form, Jenine decided that it made no sense to cut
down a perfectly healthy tree. It would be beautifully decorated for a few
weeks, then, discarded at entry of the new year. She felt that this was a waste
of a living thing and it didn’t need to be. She was, I will add, also not fond
of artificial anything and an artificial Christmas tree just didn’t feel right
to her either. Jenine thought and thought and one day while walking on the
beach near her village (Manutuke), she had a brilliant idea! Why not fashion a
tree out of driftwood!!! It was perfect!
Perfection may often be found in the eye of the beholder and
it must be said, here, that although Jenine thought that the driftwood tree
idea was brilliant, her family, especially the teenagers, had a less than
favorable reaction to the idea. But the Brown teenagers knew their mother. They
knew that even though they had registered their protests, it was clear from the
onset, that there was going to be a new sort of Christmas tree in the house
that year and that they may as well accept that change and get on with it.
Hoping to delay the inevitable, the Brown children kept finding reasons for not
going to the beach: it was a rainy day, it was a windy day (does all the
driftwood blow away?) it was a school day, it was the weekend. There was always
a reason why it was not a good day for gathering. Finally, after church one
sunny Sunday, the Browns, having everyone is the family van, drove directly to
the beach instead of home. Protests were registered from the backseat, but in
vain.It was d-day. The “D” standing for driftwood!
No sooner had the Browns stepped out of their vehicle, than
they heard calls for help. There was someone in the water who was floundering.
They could see in the distance that the person was waving their arms in a
panic. Someone was drowning! Tauri ,the oldest of the brothers took off running
in full Sunday dress and entered the water seconds later. Parekura, the father, frantically searched the shore for
something that might aid in the rescue and finally located an old boggie board.
Running at full-speed holding that boogie board under one arm, Parekura also
ran into the water fully-dressed. Between the two, father and son were able to
reach the man, who had grown tired while swimming, load him onto the boggie
board and bring him back to shore. A
life had been saved! And much later, after Christmas, there was a ceremony
where Tauri Brown was awarded a bronze medal by Gisborne City
It should be said that after saving a life that day, the
entire Brown family was struck with the feeling that they had been in the right
place as exactly the right time and they were grateful. They also spent the
rest of that Sunday afternoon collecting driftwood for the tree that only one
of them had wanted to build. Isn’t it
funny how life happens? That driftwood tree is now four years old and there are
no plans to replace it. Parekura Brown says that although it stands as a
reminder of Christmas, not one of the family every walks by that tree without also
thinking of the life that was saved the day their mother forced them to the
beach to collect driftwood.
As always, we are happy and trying to work hard. We wish you
a joyous holiday season and hope that you all take time to enjoy the spirit
that embodies the celebration. We are grateful for having you in our lives and should
you happen upon a piece of driftwood, think of us and the Brown family.
You might be interested in knowing that Parekura Brown has
just been called as the branch president in the Matukute branch. This little
branch has been open for only about six weeks. Our mission president requested that we help the
members of this branch in any way that we can. We are very happy there.
Ka kite, Ward and Susan,
Elder and Sister Belliston serving in Gisborne NZ
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