I was at my mom and dad's helping to decorate their tree, when daddy told me he had the perfect Christmas tree for us. We walked out in their yard, and over in the corner stood this beautiful
lacy cedar tree, complete with tiny cones. At first he told me we would just cut it down, but then I convinced him to lets dig it up, so it would be in my yard for years to come. It was the first and only cedar that we ever had as a Christmas tree......and my dad was so happy that he had given the tree to us.
That year as I decorated that sweet clean smelling tree, I had no clue it would be my dad's last Christmas with us. He was so excited about providing the tree that he even bought new decorations for me to use........ropes of shimmery red and gold beads.
That was twenty years ago, and my dad passed away in January, a few short weeks after Christmas. Today what was a small five or six foot tree is now at least thirty feet tall.......a home for birds and squirrels. Every day when I see that tree I think of my dad, he loved Christmas and loved giving funny silly gifts. I still have the last Christmas present he gave me........he had been a plumber and coal miner and that year, he gave me a doll size bathroom commode, when you opened the lid, water squirted in your face. He howled with laughter when I opened it on Christmas day.
When I decorate our tree this weekend, those strands of red and gold beads will be hanging on it, reminding me of my most favorite Christmas tree. ......and that last gift, tied with a bow, sitting in the bathroom window.
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That is so great you have the tree in your yard.
ReplyDeleteI love cedar trees. We had them every year cut from our farm. They grew up volunteer in the pastures and if cows hadn't been grazing they would have been everywhere.