A Memory at Holiday Time

Once upon a time... over half a century ago... I was just about out of my parents' home for good when they bought a property that had been, in part, a Christmas tree farm, and a lot of the trees were still perfect or good enough for the holiday season -- even though they had not been trimmed for a while.  So...   my dad thought of the idea of putting an old mailbox and hanging a few tree cutting saws on the fence -- where someone looking for a  tree could put  - I think it was two dollars inside the box - grab a saw and head out into the pasture to find the perfect one -- on the honor system. It was so fun.  When I got home from school for the holidays, I would watch families come, grab a saw hanging next to the mailbox and head out into the pasture to cut a tree, drag it out through the snow, tie it on top of the car and head home to decorate -- to give the season a start with a fresh cut, wonderful smelling tree and more importantly -- a family together memory.  

It was also fun to go out to the mailbox at the end of the day and remove all the one dollar bills. There were a lot of them.  I think my Dad quietly donated the money to a local church that made it their mission to provide food to those who were on hard times.  My Dad could not stand the idea of children going hungry.  It made me wonder if his growing up years didn't have some going to bed hungry memories. After all, he grew up in the era of The Great Depression. The experiences of those times became a heavy, damp, and itchy cloak over entire generations that came to save everything from rubber bands  and "good" pieces of string to bread bags and old shoes -- just in case you might need them. (I still have that tendency - one that was instilled in me when I was very young.)  Anyway -- I also remember that my Dad told me one time about hooking up the team of work horses and driving the buckboard from the family farm into the village of Findley Lake, NY where he sold fresh produce to the city people who were there for the summer.  He showed me the one cottage where people from Erie, PA stayed every summer and mentioned that if it had not been for their generosity in hand-me-downs from their boys, he and his two brothers would not have had clothing or shoes to go to school the following year. Times were not easy.

We have come a long way in a generation or two.  Central heating,  indoor plumbing, enough food and clothing... a tractor to replace a team of horses.... When I think about memories like this one, I am deeply thankful for the life that my parents provided for me growing up and thankful that I could do so for my children as well.  At least I hope I did.  Any parent always wonders if he or she could have done better.  If my kids are any indication  --  we did well together.  They are the best...the absolute best ever. 

Merry Christmas everyone.  Count your Blessings.  Make some memories... the good kind... the kind that you can look back on and smile. Time goes by so quickly....

Note... 55 years ago the average cost of a live Christmas tree was between $12 and $15 unless you wanted a fancy Douglas Fir -- which sold for way more around here.  The current average cost of a live Christmas tree today is between $80 and $100. Further -- I now own most of what used to be that Christmas tree farm.  My Dad gave the land to me about 25 years ago now.  Almost all the Christmas trees were long gone by then. I did have to have 33 huge and sickly pines cut in order have a lawn in front the home I had built in 2001. Maybe they were the last of the Christmas trees -- all grown up by then and on their way out. End of an era tree wise. Then again -- I noticed just the other day that there are two small Scotch pines growing now near the pond in the pasture behind my home.  I am not going to cut them down - ever. I so hope that whatever the combination of insects and fungal blights that killed all the other large pines around here doesn't find them. Anyway -- i am thinking of them as the pasture's Christmas trees -- both of them...a double bonus. 

 Again... Merry Christmas ....🎄

Not Good with Change? Join the Club.

Last week I met two of my cousins for lunch at Krasa's Kove in Findley Lake, New York.  In the course of our time together one cousin, who recently returned from several months in Florida, was talking about how she had cleaned out all of her closets, and I think her garage as well, since her return north.  What? I was unable to speak.  I just looked at her and then snuck a peek at the other cousin to see if her jaw had dropped as well.  You see this other cousin and I have been talking off and on all winter about how we need to clean out our closets, basements, garages, etc.  We have even considered cleaning out each other's as an incentive to get the job done -- you know -- thinking it would be fun to sort out someone else's stuff... like it is more fun to clean up someone else's kitchen than your own.  Alas -- we have accomplished very little. Our closets remain clogged, and although this other cousin has cleaned her basement and garage,  the spiders have settled into my basement- spinning a veritable web of condos by now for sure -- and my garage...? I have only swept it twice since the first thaw. Among the three of us, I am definitely in last place.  To sit there and listen to someone who has actually accomplished these tasks is to sit in awe.  It is impressive. Here's my theory --- at the core of the problem is that I do not like change. Further, I don't like to part with my favorite clothing and "stuff". I might need it again.  I am, for example, still mourning the loss of a long green knit dress that I used to wear on particularly cold winter days. Can you identify? Are there others out there who have clothing in three sizes?

Okay; so there. I confess that I am on the stodgy side as far as change is concerned. I tend to hang on.  It is a fact that I have had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the current world as it evolves and the new enters. I have my theories as to why, but who cares really?  It doesn't matter.  I am who I am in this respect. I actually think that one of the reasons I retired from teaching is that "they" took away my blackboard and chalk and replaced it with a whiteboard setup complete with electronic everything and markers that have a disgusting odor about them.  Oh my, ... it was all too much! The whiteness of that board and coping with adolescents who could text without looking at their hidden cell phones were most irritating. Handling and policing electronics in the classroom take away from the ideal learning experience as far as I am concerned. I fear that there is a large percentage of young people out there who do not know how to talk with other people unless they can use abbreviations and emoticons, not to mention all those who don't know how to add or subtract in their head, or... how to make change properly. (Please don't send me one of those "Old Fart" baseball hats.  I know... I know....)   

Is there a point when tolerance levels drop and the ability/willingness to adapt changes? Having discussed this with others on a couple of occasions, I am thinking that the answer is "yes".  Nevertheless, although my closets are overflowing at the moment and my To Do List is long... most often I eventually do come around and adapt -- often I actually adopt the latest and wonder how I ever did without it. Cable TV and Caller ID are just two examples. Going back a bit further,  I also own a microwave and, in fact, use it once in a while to melt butter, to make popcorn or to warm up left-overs. Does anyone actually cook in a microwave?  Further... I am typing on the keyboard that is attached to my desktop PC, but... I also own a laptop and an android phone, both of which I know how to use - sort of. I installed my own WiFi. Impressed? When I first heard of these "inventions" I thought they were newfangled gimmicks, gizmos with no future. I didn't buy Microsoft stock at the beginning either.  So -- that tells you something. Some of us change resistant folks miss a few opportunities.

Some things do not change, however.  Take a good hot dog and "home made" ice cream, for example.  You can find those for sure on Findley Lake, New York at Krasa's Kove. They serve the best -- Smith's and Addie's.  It is especially nice when you can share them with fun cousin/friends...even if one of them does have clean closets and the other an organized basement and garage. Some things it is just necessary to forget and forgive.  Plus -- I am thinking that it is possible that clean closets, basements, and garages will need cleaning again. There's still time to catch up...or not. My cousins don't care if I am behind.  We have more important and fun things to care about.  That will never change.  Nice....