Our friend Richard Nichols was heading up to his place in Sharon, New Hampshire yesterday to cut a tree off his property for the First Parish Church fair next Saturday. At the fair, the tree becomes a "fishing tree" where children use a fishing rod and a hook to fish for wrapped gifts decorating the tree (remember this, carrie and eliza?) At the end of the fair, this lovely tree is auctioned off and one lucky family goes home with a very fresh and fragrant tree.
David and I joined him on this expedition (providing a tree for the church is sure to earn him a place in heaven we all decided) and we chose a tree for our house as well to throw in the back of the truck. While we were at it, we cut a small tree for our friend and yoga teacher Erin and her partner Chris, making sure we had all bases covered in the spiritual practices department.
Richard cut us a tree last year, too, and we couldn't believe how fresh it stayed, didn't drop any needles and filled the house with the spruce fragrance for weeks. We are really grateful to have this chance to have such a fresh tree. We grabbed some branches (boughs) as well to deck the halls.
It amazes me to think back to my own childhood when I went to bed on Christmas Eve and woke to find a tree had arrived and was fully decorated Christmas morning. The tree was hung with colored lights and ornaments and shimmering silver tinsel. It was pretty magical, adding to the aura of Santa Claus, but now that I think about it, I didn't get the thrill of decorating and it must have been a late night for my parents and older siblings! Any memory of this you guys?
8 comments:
One year your filled with all of the Christmas magic that our parents could create, the next year you find out there's no Santa Clause, and the next year you're downstairs decorating the tree with the big kids, arguing with Ruthie about the best way to hang tinsel.
I much preferred being surprised on christmas morning.
RICHARD!
This is so exciting. I loved our tree last year, and can't wait to see this one. Will you save the most quirky ornaments to hang for when Carrie and I get home?!
Whaddaya mean, no Santa Claus...doesn't he still come on the Phoebe Snow at the Summit station? This better be right or I'm gonna...
And the tinsel...oh the tinsel...all pulled straight and glimmering...hung perfectly...but of course, it was made from lead....and is probably still sitting in the dump (but I digress...).
Love the tree hunting experience...! And the smell...
Don't they sell that in cans yet...?
Notice the difference of reactions to all this from the "guys"...and the "gals"....'tis the season!
The Phoebe Snow. Wow. Rings a bell in my mind but I would never have remembered it.
John, are you kidding me! Would I want to worry about tinsel! That was Donny! One year when I was about 16, the year before the incident at the Babbits up the street. I stayed up to decorate the tree. Donny, as I recall, wanted everything "right", so I left after about 15 minutes. I said I wanted to be surprised....really I didn't want the work of it all.
For 32 years we cut trees on our property and dragged them through the sheep poop up the hill and into the house, but I digress too. I do long for that fresh smell of Douglas Fir!
And yes...Mr. Corby always took us to see Santa on the Phoebe Snow. Those were great Crhistmases!
I love this exchange of memories! Tim and I got a tiny tree here in our apartment. It makes this stressful time of year so much better.
I remember the year Eli wanted colored lights and I remember thinking what blasphemy that was. And then in our democratic household we put both on the tree so the tree could do both colored or white. Now we have colored on our tree, which I love. We only have four ornaments which makes me realize that accumulating ornaments is a life long thing. I can't wait to get home and look at all the ornaments we've accumulated over the years and remember each one. Roz always gives us great ornaments. And I love the ones from the McLean tree and the O'Neil tree all hanging together.
love to all
Linden Place -- kids to bed early, parents decoring the tree, preparing all the magic -- then around 3 AM Marge and Dick and Martha and Don, tired but relieved, would meet at one house or the other for a nightcap celebration of a job well done.
Oh, how the pendulum swings! Carrie will never let me live down the year when I wanted colored lights, and now she has them herself. And I am in Colorado in my apartment, no tree, but WHITE lights wrapped around my outside balcony, which is currently becoming piled high with snow.
And I love not having ornaments yet! Means I can still fit my life into my car, and come home to hang all the quirky O'Neil/McLean ornaments, each with a story to tell.
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