Cutting The Christmas Tree

We went to my mother in laws house last night for our last Christmas get together of the year. I don't think I can eat anymore turkey or collards for awhile anyway. This year we have all been trying to save money and find new ways of re-using what we have. One of the ways she tried to save money was to cut her own tree. They called it the charlie Brown Christmas tree but it was gorgeous to me.

If you have never went into the woods and cut your own tree you don't know what you are missing. Here in the south we don't have a lot of choices. It's not like living in the mountains and having a mountain full of perfectly shaped and full trees. Our main choices are Leland Cypress or a cedar tree. The only thing with cedar trees are you cut the top out of them and they are still thin and spindly. So heavy ornaments can't be hung on it.

I remember as a child going to my grandpa's house in the woods and he would always have a small cedar tree top set in the corner of the living room. Instead of a tree stand, the tree would be in a coffee can or paint can filled with dirt. It was also set into a corner of the living room so that the walls would help support it. Back then there was no such thing as the mini twinkling lights that we have now. What we had was the big fat colored lights of long ago. Because the limbs were so spindly the only place would rest was around the center of the tree. They were basically wrapped around the trunk from top to bottom. We had construction paper chains on the tree that we had made new each year. I think this task was given to us as a means to keep us out of grandma's hair for a little bit. We also strung popcorn, cut out construction paper stars, and made a star for the top of the tree out of aluminum foil. Because money was tight grandma would save all the bits and pieces of foil throughout the year and us kids got that to make our ornaments with. There were simply little balls of foil with a string in it to hang on the tree. My grandmother also did a lot of canning and 'putting things up'. With each new canning job she would give us the lids to re purpose for whatever use we had for them. Sometimes we would take and use them as target practice for our BB gun. But for Christmas we would take the lids and cut out pictures or use family pictures cut to fit the lid and glue them on. Then these would be hung from the tree. Any bits of yarn or fabric grandma had left that didn't go towards another purpose were used to make bows for the tree.

Once it was all decorated grandpa would turn off all the lights in the house and turn the on the lights on the tree. It was gorgeous!! The only store bought thing on the tree other than the lights was tinsel. So when those big colored lights hit the tinsel, the aluminum foil ornaments, and the brass jar lids it just sparkled. To this day, I still cut off all the lights in the house when I first turn on the tree lights and I just sit and stare at it. I remember grandpa holding me up to place the star on top of the tree and to place various ornaments in places I couldn't reach. I remember grandpa intentionally squishing popcorn so that it would not be fitting to string and he would eat it. We were never told, "No that ornament doesn't go there." He would always say I think that's as good a spot as any." We would just sit together, staring at the tree, and talking about whatever goofy things came to our child minds. It was an awesome time of my life.

So when I saw the one at my mother in laws house my mind immediately went back to my childhood and how much fun Christmas was. There weren't a lot of presents under grandpa's tree but that didn't bother me because the tree and decorating it together was enough of a gift in itself.

I just hope that some day I can pass along memories as sweet as these to my grandchildren.