Christmas Tree
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Britany, Ray and Lilly went over to Destin and bought a live tree, which reminded me that our family custom was, the Sunday before Christmas, put saw and axe in the car trunk, load everybody inside and head out across Hathaway Bridge into the piney woods that, except for the dozen or so houses and other buildings including the Old Dutch Inn at the Y, that stood between Hathaway Bridge and Phillips Inlet Bridge, turn off into one of those piney-wooded areas and drive the winding sandy trails slowly, slowly, slower to assess tree by tree. Stop at first one then another to see if it was perfectly round or had a flat side and drive on; even if it was perfect, we could never cut the first tree we saw, or the second or half-dozenth because no matter how good they were there was always surely a better, best one waiting.
Eventually we found a tree, seems to me that Gina liking it was always the deciding factor, and by then I didn't care, and the flat side with no branches would go against the living room wall where nobody could see it anyway. And we would cut it, stuff it into the trunk, and head home to trim the trunk, nail the tree to a stand made of one-by-fours, attach wires to keep it standing, and take into the house. Wire it to the wall if necessary, and begin the Sunday evening of unpacking sacred decorations, one of us, usually me is my recollection as I considered myself the patient family electrical Xmas lights engineer, testing strings of lights until we got two or three or four strings of lights that worked (in those light strings, when one light went out the whole string went out), oohing and aahing as we came across beloved ornaments, and decorating the tree.
Finally, even after the star, we had a star not a dumb angel because that was our tradition and we knew it was correct, we opened the packs of tinsel icicles and - - Gina, again is my recollection, put hers on deliberately one by one so that they looked and hung really nice, while I stood back and tossed mine clump by clump; what about you, Walt? All the while, the smell of Christmas candy cooking coming from the kitchen.
We have a lovely tree here, Britany, Ray and Lilly decorated it. And they made a Christmas stocking for each of us, everyone who will be here Christmas Day; and mounted them on the wall. Papa first. Or last, depending on where you start counting. Linda mused that this was the first time she could remember in more than sixty years that she had not decorated a Christmas tree. I said "next year in Jerusalem" because by then, God willing, we should be back in 7H. Frankly, I'm liking it here just as much!
All the while keeping the Christ in Xmas.
T
Britany, Ray and Lilly went over to Destin and bought a live tree, which reminded me that our family custom was, the Sunday before Christmas, put saw and axe in the car trunk, load everybody inside and head out across Hathaway Bridge into the piney woods that, except for the dozen or so houses and other buildings including the Old Dutch Inn at the Y, that stood between Hathaway Bridge and Phillips Inlet Bridge, turn off into one of those piney-wooded areas and drive the winding sandy trails slowly, slowly, slower to assess tree by tree. Stop at first one then another to see if it was perfectly round or had a flat side and drive on; even if it was perfect, we could never cut the first tree we saw, or the second or half-dozenth because no matter how good they were there was always surely a better, best one waiting.
Eventually we found a tree, seems to me that Gina liking it was always the deciding factor, and by then I didn't care, and the flat side with no branches would go against the living room wall where nobody could see it anyway. And we would cut it, stuff it into the trunk, and head home to trim the trunk, nail the tree to a stand made of one-by-fours, attach wires to keep it standing, and take into the house. Wire it to the wall if necessary, and begin the Sunday evening of unpacking sacred decorations, one of us, usually me is my recollection as I considered myself the patient family electrical Xmas lights engineer, testing strings of lights until we got two or three or four strings of lights that worked (in those light strings, when one light went out the whole string went out), oohing and aahing as we came across beloved ornaments, and decorating the tree.
Finally, even after the star, we had a star not a dumb angel because that was our tradition and we knew it was correct, we opened the packs of tinsel icicles and - - Gina, again is my recollection, put hers on deliberately one by one so that they looked and hung really nice, while I stood back and tossed mine clump by clump; what about you, Walt? All the while, the smell of Christmas candy cooking coming from the kitchen.
We have a lovely tree here, Britany, Ray and Lilly decorated it. And they made a Christmas stocking for each of us, everyone who will be here Christmas Day; and mounted them on the wall. Papa first. Or last, depending on where you start counting. Linda mused that this was the first time she could remember in more than sixty years that she had not decorated a Christmas tree. I said "next year in Jerusalem" because by then, God willing, we should be back in 7H. Frankly, I'm liking it here just as much!
All the while keeping the Christ in Xmas.
T