A Memorable Christmas Tree

Well, here we are at just about Christmas time already — seems like we’ve been especially busy this year — or — maybe I’m just moving slower and it seems like we’re busier. Anyhow, it’s kind of a tradition that I write some kind of a Christmas blog, so here we go….
Recently, I discussed the various types of ornaments, or tree toppers people put on their Christmas trees, and I mentioned that we have four Christmas trees in our house every year. We haven’t always had four Christmas trees…. but we have had a lot of Christmas trees over the years.
Generally speaking, the Christmas tree itself usually doesn’t stir up memories, the memories are usually some thing or some event associated with the tree. 

But some trees, in and of themselves, do generate memories. The first Christmas tree we had together, was a “fake” tree that my parents sent to us when we were in the Philippines. We had that tree for many, many years and always put it up in addition to our “real” Christmas tree. It evolved to a tree that held our kid’s ornaments — the tree is different, but our kids’ ornaments still have a tree of their own in our house every year. 

Another memorable Christmas tree was our first real/living Christmas tree when Kelly was old enough to start to realize that Christmas was something special… I still remember her coming downstairs on that Christmas morning.

But our “strangest” Christmas tree may be the most memorable of all. One year shortly after we were married, my job had me stuck in Singapore for Christmas. Fortunately, Claire was able to join me there and we celebrated Christmas in a hotel room. Some friends of ours that lived in Singapore invited us over for dinner a day or so before Christmas and their two kids, both in the 4 to 6 or 7 year old range, found out that we were staying in a hotel and we didn’t have a Christmas tree. The next day, they insisted that they come to the hotel and bring us a Christmas tree. You’ve probably heard about a Charlie Brown Christmas tree… well, this was a real Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. But having that tree made Christmas more special, and because it was delivered by children that obviously understood there was more to Christmas than getting presents, made it particularly special. You can check out the tree in the picture… Christmas (and life) doesn’t get much better than times like those. Merry Christmas to everyone.
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