In the arms of my Angel...

Take one look at our Christmas tree, and you can't help but notice the beautiful angel on top. She's not just any angel...she was given to me by MY angel. His name is Steve.

I was talking to my brother, Scott, tonight and somehow the conversation turned to Christmas traditions. Not quite sure how I ended up on the topic...but I filled him in on the story of my angel.

Once upon a time, I was a single Mom to Sierra and Jared. Christmases used to be particularly hard for me. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, but back in those days...it was sometimes hard to smile through it all. I'd struggle to save enough money to buy a tree, and would struggle even more to set the darned thing up in the stand by myself. I'd wrestle it to the car, tie it to the roof, bring it inside, hold it with one hand and screw the stand into it at the same time. Often times, it would tip over and I'd try again. Eventually, I'd get it to stand up straight and would put the lights and ornaments on it. At the tip-top, I'd put my cracked blinking star. No money to buy a new one...and it worked good enough for us. Besides, the star was rather like my heart...broken, but still functioning and putting on a good show.

In the Fall of 1998, Steve and I began dating. We had been friends for about a year at that point. I had found a true friend, someone who understood me and how precious my children were. Winter came and it was time to buy my Christmas tree. This year, Steve went with us. He bought it for us, brought it to our home and set it up. Around that time, the movie "City of Angels" came out. We watched it together and I clearly recall how deeply affected I was. I told Steve that he was my angel...in so many ways. That Christmas he gave me a gift...my angel for the top of our Christmas tree. It was a beautiful reminder of what he meant to me...and to my children. Like an angel sent from above, he took me away from it all...the pain, the hurt, the lies, the emptiness, the brokeness. I didn't need my cracked star anymore, he had healed my heart.

I remember hearing the lyrics to the Sarah McLachlan song at the end of that movie and being reduced to tears. It was my story...and I found comfort in his arms...

Arms of an Angel Lyrics: "Spend all your time waiting for that second chance For the break that will make it okThere's always some reason to feel “not good enough? And it's hard at the end of the day I need some distraction, oh beautiful release Memories seep from my veins They may be empty and weightless, and maybe I'll find some peace tonight In the arms of an Angel, fly away from here From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie You're in the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here So tired of the straight line, and everywhere you turn There's vultures and thieves at your back The storm keeps on twisting, you keep on building the lies That you make up for all that you lack It don't make no difference, escaping one last time It's easier to believe In this sweet madness, oh this glorious sadness That brings me to my knees In the arms of an Angel, far away from here From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie In the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here."

Her voice is hauntingly beautiful... CLICK HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw1HQn2mmN8&feature=related

When you look at the photo of the angel on our tree below, doesn't she look even more heaven-sent now? :)