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 ....🎄
