She continued to add her little things to the tree. In fact, by now the tree was so full of unique and beautiful ornaments and lights that it took an entire day to unpack and hang them. She also had to be very careful lest some of them crumble as they had become so fragile. Funny, it didn’t seem that long ago they had been new!
She also had noticed that this Christmas her children had little time for Christmas. With all their parties, being away at college, and being just plain tired, they found it easier to ignore the elaborate and lengthy process of getting and putting up the tree. And of course, the husband did not care.
So this Christmas the mother determined they would once again celebrate together, as a family. That they would together decorate their tree and take time to once again enjoy each other, and what they had shared over the years. And anticipate the same joy they had shared in previous years.
And most of all, be grateful for their good fortune to have gotten so much from life; in spite of their busy life, or in the case of the husband, bitterness. No matter that she alone had to search and select the tree. And bring it to their home, trim it, and set it up in the home.
The family would only share a few more Christmases together, and she knew, as only she could know, that her tree must speak.
A tree ready to SPEAK?
The husband chuckled. The kids could not believe they would have to miss a basketball game and party. But the dog was overjoyed and delighted. He loved for everyone to be together. And this night even the grandparents and uncle were there. The tree sat in the corner like a wallflower at a dance. And bid its time.
It was a nice tree. But it was not talking. Perhaps it was limited in vocabulary, as trees are prone to be, even when standing to their tops.
But the night had come. And they were all together. And anyway… they liked and respected each other, so if mom had insisted they be here… well for her, anything was fine. And they all relaxed and started to gab together about their past, and their future. The mother reached down and began to open one of meticulously packed and protected treasures. And her husband watched her pull her first ornament from the darkness into the light.
A small, single tear began to appear around the corner of one eye as he watched. She was now holding the first ornament she had gotten so many years ago --- it was a delicate, china mushroom from a trip they had taken to Frankenmuth, just after he had returned from Korea during Vietnam.
She help it close to her face for a moment, seeming to gain some special sense from it and the husband had remembered how he had mentioned to her he had never heard of a mushroom on a healthy tree. But it caused her so much happiness and delight there was no way to have avoided it. And somehow he understood that this tree would be perhaps the healthiest one he would ever see.
Then she pulled out a crumbling little plaster hunk. It was a cross their son had made many years ago in pre-school. It was not pretty. Its design would not make it eligible in any museum. But the family knew how proud the son had been of his work, and the mother had lovingly taken it from him, placed a sting around it, and placed it in a prominent part of the Christmas tree.
The son had been so proud. But the mother was also shrewd. She knew how to make her tree speak, and when.
And the daughter remembered as she started to help her mother unpack a special prize of hers form long ago. So long she had forgotten it. Forgotten her tiny little teddy Bear snuggled in the britches of little doll.
As she though back she remembered losing the little bear, and as she placed them on the tree, she smiled because she thought she would never see her little bear again. But when the mother had cleaned her room after she left for college, she had found it nestled in her mattress. And she set it aside to add to her tree.
And she sensed that because of her mother not only was she reunited with her teddy bear, but also this was going to be a very special evening. And she began to hear the tree talking to her.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
