Ghosts of Christmas Past: O Christmas Tree!
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| Christmas 1965 or 66. The child in the plaid bathrobe is no ghost, but my little sister who is very much still alive and kicking. (Sorry, Sis, it was the best tree picture I could find!) |
I’d mentioned in last week’s post about family holiday traditions that my mother was a bit on the obsessive side about her Christmas decorations, especially the tree. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the case for the prosecution:
My mother shunned trees from the local tree lots that sprang up in every vacant lot around the end of November. “They were probably cut in August and they’ll drop all their needles before Christmas,” she’d say. So the morning of the Friday after Thanksgiving, we’d pile into the car and drive for over an hour on narrow, winding roads up into the Santa Cruz mountains to her favorite tree farm. And then the The Traipse would begin.
The possibility that we might not examine every Douglas Fir (the only acceptable type of tree) on the 100+ acre farm was inconceivable to my mother. So we’d go up and down every row in the DF section, usually twice before she’d settle on two or three candidates. These days when you shop for Christmas trees, they’ve either been bred or trimmed into an almost perfect conical shape. Not so back then. Yet a perfectly shaped, perfectly full tree with no bare patches or brown branches was imperative. Mom wanted the Miss America of trees, a natural beauty and flawless from trunk to tip.
It never seemed to fail that her finalists were always at the opposite far corners of the farm. So back and forth we’d walk while she hemmed and hawed and scrutinized every needle. Sometimes this went on for over an hour. By the time she was ready to annoint the winner, the rest of us had totally lost interest in the process, and were rapidly descending into Cranky Valley. And did I mention it was c o l d out there in the mountains in late November? Finally she’d crown the Fir Queen, and send my father off to fetch a saw and an attendant to help drag the poor, freshly severed tree back to be wrapped up and tied to the top of the car.
For my sister and me, the high point of the day followed: a cup of hot chocolate, and then a visit to Santa’s Village for the kiddie rides and to see Santa and carve our names in the “North Pole” ice with burning cold fingers and feed the “reindeer” from small brown paper bags of grain available for purchase for a quarter.
Once home, the tree was leaned up against the house in a bucket of water, where it sat for the next day or two, then was brought inside, set up and decorated. We were never one of those families who waited until Christmas Eve to put up the tree. There was no point in going to all of that trouble if you didn’t get at least a month’s enjoyment from your labors. First the lights went up. This was Dad’s job, with Mom supervising. The lights (the fun, old-fashioned, big-bulbed, energy-sucking, multi-colored ones) had to be evenly spaced and just the right distance from the tips of the branches. This often took hours to achieve.
Then it was time for the ornaments. My sister and I were allowed to help hang some of them, though Mom would usually follow behind us and correct our placement. The smaller ornaments were to be hung nearer the top of the tree, and the bigger ornaments were to go near the bottom, to achieve the necessary balanced and harmonious look. We did have some beautiful antique glass ornaments that I wish I still had. We were a non-tinsel household. Mom had decided at some point that tinsel was declassé, so instead the last thing to go up on the tree were the plastic icicles. I know. Plastic. Icicles. Years later, we discovered that they actually glowed in the dark, which made them seem so much cooler.
Finally the tree was fully decorated. We’d plug in the tree lights, turn off the room lights, put on the Andy Williams Christmas album, and just sit and admire the tree. That was the best part, and the ordeal of getting to that point was quickly forgotten.
(My mother, however, would continue to adjust and arrange the lights and ornaments until January 1, when it was time to take them down.)
Happy Holidays, everyone, however you celebrate them! I wish everyone peace and goodwill. I’ll be back with new posts next week.
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OK…I’ll admit to being obsessive about my Christmas tree too.
There is just something magical about a perfect Christmas tree.
Wonderful story about your Mother & Family!
Come and enter my Giveaway from My Sparrow, you will love it!
Joyeaux Noel!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Ha! Sounds like my dear, departed MIL! Except by the time I knew her, she couldn’t get out to get the tree, so she had to take whatever her sons brought her. But the rearranging of the ornaments, oh yeah. Now, I like to have a general movement of big to little, bottom to top, but I”m not obsessive about it. When MIL died, I did salvage one box of ornaments so DH has something from his childhood on our tree.
I love hearing these stories from past holidays…somehow ir connects our traditions today!
Your Mother sounded like she had an eye for detail…
Happy Holidays!
We’re slightly tree-obsessed Chez Rubi, too, though we go in for a Balsam Fir if we can find it. (New England HG Xmas tree, don’t you know.)
I miss those bubble lights! I can still remember the clanking sound they made as they got put on the tree…
Love this story…and the photo is too cute.
Wonderfully told! We always got our tree from a lot growing up, and we loved going with Dad to pick one up, but I always envied the idea of picking one out of the wild.
We had tinsel, and I loved it, but grew to feel, as your mother did, that it was tacky and abandoned it somewhere as late as my mid-20s. It’s a child’s cheap thrill, wonderfully so — does it still exist? probably not a good thing, environmentally and so probably banned. . .
did you have any of those wonderful glass ornaments with the liquid inside that bubbled up and down as they heated with the light?
Paul’s uncle, 85, has just sent us a Christmas letter recounting his childhood memories in which all the Christmas goodies, tree, decorations, and all, were put together on Christmas Eve, after the kids were in bed, so that they might awake to a magical scene. Can you imagine the poor parents??!
Oh my mother loved her Christmas trees. And every year she would say, once decorated,”It’s the most BEAUTIFUL tree we’ve ever had.” I just go to Home Depot and pick one out of the parking lot:). Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, dear Pseu! I’ve never seen a tree that was not beautiful in its way (yes, corny) and would kill for a set of glow in the dark icicles- just try to find those now. With affection and many thanks for your wonderful posts.
Love the stories you tell! Have a joyous holiday season and look forward to more in 2011.
Loved reading this story. Merry Christmas to you. Thank you for all your entertaining and informative posts.
Loved your story, and can identify a bit too much with the need to get something JUST RIGHT. Naturally other people’s obsessions can be entirely troublesome, ha!
ps Word verification = “mackie” — could anything be more fitting for a tree-decorating post, even if tinsel was forbidden? 😉
Oh I’m a bit obsessive too – I don’t let Mr TNMA anywhere near the tree! Have a wonderful Christmas.
Best wishes,
TNMA
mom was very obsessive about her tree too. i can recognize her in your post.
would love to get some of those old fashioned glass tree ornaments for my tree.
peace joy and time.and thank you for your posts.
I have really fond memories of going to the local Boy Scout Christmas tree lot with my father every year to pick out our tree. Evidently, my mother knew, that even as a young child, I was very picky and would come back home with the perfect tree.
There were no local Christmas tree farms back in those days in East Texas. There are tree farms now–Plantation Pines–and they are all trimmed to be perfectly shaped. I think I would prefer them naturally shaped. My husband and I are discussing growing our own Christmas trees at our farm—this post gave us the idea.
I’m surprised that you set up your tree so early in the season and took it down before Epiphany.
In Québec it would be absurd to take a tree down before New Year’s. New Year’s is traditionally the main celebration here – that is also true among Highland Scots, and no doubt other peoples. Christmas was basically a religious event.
No tree or decorations here – why would I do that, with no children? If I’m entertaining, I buy fresh flowers, and might pick up some pine or fir boughs as they smell so good.
Traditions are never forgotten even if we don’t follow them to the letter ourselves! Love the tree story!! Happiest of holidays to you dear Deja – looking forward to more of your wonderful posts in 2011. X
Lagatta, We always put up a tree even though our children are grown. We enjoy it as much as they do. For us, Christmas is a much bigger celebration than New Year’s Day–and all the decorations are for Christmas. We take our tree down a few days after Christmas if it is a real one–because by that time it is shedding badly and becoming a fire hazard.
It’s interesting to hear of different customs.
Belle – me too. The few years that I did a tree of my own, I was also persnickety about light and ornament placement.
Karena – thank you! I did, and I do! You have a lovely blog.
SewingLibrarian – I don’t know what ultimately became of our heirloom ornaments. I’d guess my mom eventually gave them away. In her later years, she took to decorating the tree with the dolls from around the world bought by my grandmother on her travels, and stuffed animals saved from when we were kids.
hostess – my mother *definitely* had an eye for detail, and for quality. She really should have been an interior designer.
Rubiatonta – Christmas trees ARE special, so I think it’s OK to really want them to be lovely. I miss those lights too. whenever I see them I get nostalgic.
WendyB – thanks! My sister was a VERY photogenic kid!
materfamilias – yes, they still make tinsel, though after trying it a for few years, I grew to understand my mother’s avoidance of it. It IS messy, and I had one cat who liked to eat it….’nuff said.
We didn’t have the ornaments that you describe, though I vaguely recall a friend’s tree having something similar, and found them absolutely enchanting. I can’t imagine the parents setting up the tree on Christmas Eve…mine were probably quite busy enough filling stockings and assembling toys, and eating the milk and cookies left for Santa!
LPC – LOL! My mother used to say the same thing! I think the trees have gotten better over the years, as the ones I see in the lots now look quite nice and full and pretty.
Duchesse – it’s true, I’ve yet to see a tree that wasn’t pretty in its own way. Actually you can find those icicles sometimes from novelty e-tailers or on ebay. I’m always tempted to buy a set, though I have no idea what I’d do with them!
Style Crone – thank you, and I hope your holiday is filled with love and joy as well!
Susan – Merry Christmas to you as well, and thank you for all of your lovely comments!
Vix – oh, as an adult I totally get it, though as a kid I didn’t appreciate the nuances of tree selection and decorating!
neki desu – thanks so much! I hope your holidays are Merry and Bright!
That’s Not My Age – but it’s so satisfying to step back and enjoy our handiwork, isn’t it?? Hope you have a very Happy Christmas!
Susan – how cool would that be to have your own tree farm??? (I’d probably get attached to them though, and never want to cut them down.)
lagatta – OK, so what’s Epiphany? (I told you my family wasn’t religious! ;-p ) We usually took the tree down the first weekend in January, so it was up for New Years. This year I added the evergreen boughs to the mantle hoping to get the smell, but I think they were too dried out.
Semi Expat – thank you, and I hope your holidays are full of love and joy!
pseu, Epiphany was the day the Three Kings or Wise Men arrived with presents for the baby Jesus. My family wasn’t religious either, but it is culturally important in many countries. In Italy, the Befana (a kindly witch) brought presents then. You may well see posters advertising stuff for Los Reyes in Latin American businesses in L.A. In French cultures, la galette des Rois is a cake (nowadays usually flaky pastry around a frangipane filling). The cake contains a “bean” which was once a real bean but is now usually a tiny ceramic figurine.
I found this in English: http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2005/01/galette_des_rois.php Chocolate and Zucchini actually has a recipe, but I’ve never met anyone who made their own: you buy them at pâtisseries. This has no religious significance any more; in Paris I’ve had them with secular Muslim and Jewish friends.
New Orleans also has a King Cake. In the south of France, it isn’t a flaky pâtisserie but a fruit brioche, similar to an Italian panettone.
pseu, it is really an excuse in Latin-speaking countries to keep on partying for the Twelve Days of Christmas!
While this does sound excessive, I had a MIL who would drill holes in a trunk and add limbs to a live tree to create the perfect balance.
While this does sound excessive, I had a MIL who would drill holes in a trunk and add limbs to a live tree to create the perfect balance.
Pseu, Happy New Year! We were away and so I am behind on reading and commenting, but I just read this one and loved it. We’re persnickety about the tree here too.
You know, since you mentioned Santa’s Village, I can’t resist pointing you to this post of mine about my Dad’s memory of Holy City and the Santas there — in the Santa Cruz mountains, circa 1930s. I’d heard they were moved to Santa’s Village but couldn’t find evidence in doing research for the post.
I wonder if your family ever visited Holy City?
Here’s the link:
http://www.financialorganizing.info/2010/08/31/15-holy-city/