Today, I am taking the 300 or so ornaments off the Christmas tree, removing the lights, and eventually, this beautiful 12 foot eco-friendly tree will be put away for another year. It has served us faithfully for thirteen years. Phyllis was the inspiration that brought the tree to our porch those many years ago.
One of our favorite Christmas shops, the Silver Sleigh, in Lenox, MA. was going out of business. The owners decided it was time to have some fun and were moving to Florida, even though business was pretty good. When the store had opened probably ten years before, Phyllis saw the magical tree and loved it. It was worth a trip to the Silver Sleigh just to see the many ornaments and lights displayed on it. We stopped there often occasionally picking up an ornament, or a gift.
Suddenly, our favorite shop was no longer going to be there. Phyllis, in bargain hunting mode, brought us to the Silver Sleigh with one item in mind, the tree. And there it stood, at the entrance as usual, practically denuded of ornaments and lights, but still splendid in its state of undress. She went straight to the owner. “We want the tree. How much?” The price was $350. “Sold!” and the tree became our tree. I was figuring that is ten years of short, cut trees at $35 per year, so it would equal out, and we had the space.
We panicked a bit when we realized the height and the number of lights and ornaments it would take to adorn the tree. We bought some fillers and garlands to round out our meager supply. Maybe at that time there were a hundred and fifty ornaments. Over the years we were blessed with ornaments from many quarters. Our nieces and nephews would give us a special ornament occasionally. My siblings added to the collection. And our daughter Meg picked about 15 vintage 1940-50 ornaments from the garbage in Boston. Our neighbors would bring us some fresh fragile ornaments each year at the annual Christmas party. And of course there were the ones we bought on our travels, from Newport, Cape Cod, Williamsburgh, North and South Carolina, Disneyland, Sacramento, Denver, and Wyoming.
Ten sets of lights assure that it is bright and cheerful. And of course there is nothing like the mountain of gifts that appear under and around it on Christmas morning.
The tree is the center of life for a number of weeks, from before Thanksgiving until well after New Year’s Day. If I understand the theme of one of our recent books tackled by our discussion group, “The Hoop and the Tree”, our Christmas tree is a perfect example, as should everyone’s. We form a hoop, community around the tree. The hoop includes family, friends, and neighbors. Our bands of community, often overlapping. And the tree represents our aspirations as individuals, to strive, to be better, to be the best person possible.
The longevity of this tree has years of community and aspirations linked to it, and so we are thankful for that as we look forward to putting it up again in November.
No comments:
Post a Comment