12-24-08...CHRISTMAS TREE
Down at the end of my driveway there is a little cedar tree. It is loaded with those little white thingies that from a distance make it look like it has snow in its branches. Now that is a Christmas tree in my mind. That is the only kind of christmas tree we ever had. It was Christmas when that cedar tree was brought inside with that pungent odor all it's own. We didn't have ornaments bought at a store until I was a teenager. After we got electricity in our home we had one little string of lights. Seven bulbs that I just loved to look at. There was this stuff called angel hair, and packets of silver strings called icicles. Daddy came home one day with a sack. Somehow he had gotten a packet of angel hair and one of icicles. Oh Man were we prowd and so were my Parents. We didn't have room for a big cedar tree so it was about 4ft. I think.
We all decorated together. I think my parents enjoyed it as much as Norman and I did. As I look back I'm sure it wasn't a gorgeous tree like you see now. It was a special tree and a special time. The icicles and angel hair that Norman and I placed on the tree was not neat but globs hanging haphazerdously here and there. Mama and Daddy just left it the way we placed it and told us how pretty it was and what a good job we were doing. We didn't get the tree until two days before Christmas. Since cedar was so flamable Daddy said we couldn't chance it catching fire. When we went out to cut the tree was always special. Mama would save a lard bucket. Daddy put gravel in the botton of the bucket and filled it with garden dirt all around the trunk of the tree. We could keep water in the bucket so the tree didn't dry out so fast.
Everyone got something from everyone. If it cost a nickle or a penny it was fun and very appreciated. Each family had Christmas at home then visited later in the day. But Christmas was home and family.
That was our traditions and all we knew. I'd love to have an old time Christmas like that again. I no longer have a live cedar tree now but I did as my Son was growing up. Now I bring in some cedar branches so I can smell Christmas. What a treat to have that smell in my home once again as I go down memory lane. YEP!!!!!
