Peace on Earth Holly Tee

The design for this shirt came after hearing the song, "The Holly and The Ivy." I had never heard the song before, and I never realized that the holly plants that are everywhere decorating our homes during Christmas, held a representation of Christ in telling us the reason why He came.

In the song, the flowers on the holly plant are compared to white lilies. Lilies are mentioned throughout the Bible (Songs of Solomon 2:1, Matthew 6:28-29, Hosea 14:5, etc.), usually as a symbol of provision, beauty or purity[1]. This is a symbol of the purity and beauty of Jesus, in that, though He was a spotless lamb (innocent and without sin), He bore the sins of everyone and died on a cross for us. He gave us His purity in exchange for our sins.

"Even though you were once distant from him, living in the shadows of your evil thoughts and actions, he reconnected you back to himself. He released his supernatural peace to you through the sacrifice of his own body as the sin-payment on your behalf so that you would dwell in his presence. And now there is nothing between you and Father God, for he sees you as holy, flawless, and restored," Colossians 1:21–22 TPT

The bright red berries of the holly plant are a symbol of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross for us. He willingly shed His blood so that we could be saved. This is what we remember during this time, not just the gift of a child, but a Savior ready to die for His creation to save them from eternal separation from God.

"In fact under the Law almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness [neither release from sin and its guilt, nor cancellation of the merited punishment]." Hebrews 9:22 

The leaves of young holly plants are spiny. These spines are a representation of the crown of thorns on Jesus head at His crucifixion. (Something interesting I noticed when I looked up holly leaves is that it is typically the young plants that have spiny leaves, not the older plants. This reminded me of the verse in Isaiah 53:8, when it says "no one cared that He died without descendants, that His life was cut short in midstream." Meaning that He died at a young age, and the pain of those thorns was inflicted on Him in His youth; like how the leaves of the holly start out spiny in the younger plants.)

1 “Flowers: The Lily of the Valley.” Topical Bible: Flowers: The Lily of the Valley, biblehub.com/topical/ttt/f/flowers--the_lily_of_the_valley.htm. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.