The Pope's Christmas Tree

Some time before Christmas, I received an email from my dad, asking if I had made plans for Christmas. He went on to say that if I decided to stay in Rome to celebrate Christmas with the Pope, he wanted to make sure I got a picture of the two of us decorating the tree. I laughed when I read the email but didn't think much of it. So, imagine my surprise when the next day, I walked into St. Peter's Square and saw a crane erecting a giant evergreen tree in the middle of the square! For the next two weeks, I watched each morning and each evening as men added layers of decoration to the Christmas tree. It actually started to feel like my own tree, and I wondered if I should ask to hang an ornament. A couple of times I almost considered going up to the tree and just hanging something on it when no one was looking. But I didn't...

After weeks of this, it was finally decorated. Then, the first time I crossed the square after Christmas, there was more to see. In the run up to Christmas, I had watched the tree go up and wondered why it looked like it was next to a construction site. Well, apparently it was, and what they were constructing was this giant creche. Beautiful!

When it was already too late, I also learned that on the 23rd or 24th of December, the Pope had actually been out in the square unveiling the creche, which was right next to the tree. So, in some attenuated way, I almost had a chance to fulfill my father's wish.

And then, one day in January, it was all gone...