Don’t let the past steal the present. This is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. – Taylor Caldwell, American novelist (1900-1985)
I don’t think Christmas is necessarily about things. It’s about being good to one another. – Carrie Fisher, American actress, writer, mental health advocate (1956-2016)
Of all the holidays I think Christmases would be the most remembered at any age. About the time of my five-year-old self, I remember the nativity scene in our front yard. Hay was scattered across the lawn; the life size plywood characters were spruced up with a touch of paint having been set aside in the storage room for a whole year. Spotlights were added and turned on by nightfall. During the day I would put on my plaid “car coat” jacket with matching hat and stand beside Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus as if I was part of the nativity. In some ways I was a part of it.
In the early days we had a real Christmas tree in the living room next to the fireplace. Back then Boy Scouts and the Optimist Club sold Christmas trees. By the time I was about seven years old they offered to spray paint the tree the color of your choice. Mom let me choose a color and I chose pink. That year we had the most beautiful pink Christmas tree. Ever after Mom remarked it was the ugliest Christmas tree we’d ever had.
I suppose everyone has their own decorating taste. It would be long after the pink Christmas tree that Mom bought the latest rage in Christmas trees known as Aluminum Christmas Trees with silver tinsel “pom pom” branches. The tree came with a four-color lit wheel to illuminate your indoor tree. A Google search showed you can still order Aluminum Christmas Trees either new or vintage and believe it or not they do come in pink as well as other colors.
Since living here in the Prairie Christmas trees of pine and cedar abound. Before the “children” married and moved away we had a very large and real Cedar Christmas tree cut down like Paul Bunyan. It would take four of us to upright the tree once we forced it through the front door. Two of us hung from the second floor with a rope around the tree and two stayed on the first floor to push the tree upright. It took a ladder to adorn the tree with Christmas stars, balls, and lights. It really was a beautiful tree.
Last Christmas Sam and I rode around in the Gator looking for a suitable Christmas tree. Each prospect seemed too small, too wide, too thin, too tall. With some reluctance on my part Sam retrieved the chainsaw and cut the top out of the cedar tree. It was a pretty tree. Later the tree was easily removed by using the chainsaw in the living room.
This year the Bardwells are enjoying a beautiful Douglass Fir tree about seven feet tall purchased at a big box store. From us to you, as Frank Sinatra would say, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas.”
Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
