The Tree No One Wanted

Chicago had had freezing temperatures and about six inches of snow. Then, just as the Christmas season approached, temperatures steadily rose, the snow melted, and earth became mud. The Christmas tree lots were seas of mud, so we, like everyone else, put off the annual trek to get a tree. If we waited, the seas might dry up. We waited in vain. The seas of mud didn't dry up. In fact, when we could postpone our annual trek no longer, it began raining. My father was out of town, so getting the tree was up to Mother and me. Mother was not prepared to slosh about in either mud or rain. Her boots and her umbrella looked like Swiss cheese, and she had no raincoat. I, in contrast, had come home from college well prepared for bad weather. All the women on campus had brightly colored rubber boots (Mine were red.), a brightly colored oil cloth slicker (Mine was yellow.), and a matching oil cloth hat like the ones you see in Winslow Homer paintings. Nor'easter garb to protect one from the ravages of Nor'easters.

When Mother and I got to our favorite lot, the rain was coming down in solid sheets. It took Mother about 4 seconds to decide to let me pick out the tree while she stayed in the car. She gave me twenty dollars. I'd probably have to spend it all since our ceilings were eleven feet tall, but I didn't spend it all. I managed to buy a nine foot tree for a quarter. Yes, a quarter. That tree should have been a freebie. No right minded person would want it. No one had wanted it until I came along. That tree, that nine foot tall tree had only two branches. The one near the top was about four inches long. The one near the bottom was about four feet long. They stuck out in opposite directions from each other. Had this "thing" been lopped off the top of another tree? Probably. Plastic surgery is performed all the time on Christmas trees. The owner of the lot was so happy to get this eyesore off his hands, he offered to carry the tree to our car.

My mother took one look at it and nearly expired. Why on earth had I bought that? My explanation was simple. I felt sorry for it because I knew no one would buy it. Mother sighed, pocketed her $19.75 in change, got me and the tree into the car, and headed for home. She needed coffee.

My father got home that night and agreed that we owned a tree no one would buy. Since we owned it, this tree was the tree he had always dreamed of, always wanted. With his usual zest, he put it up and proceeded to decorate it. He wound a red velvet ribbon around the trunk and tied a bow at the top. He placed lights on the four inch upper branch, on the trunk, and on the four foot bottom branch. He used only two decorations, our nicest, one for the top branch and one for the bottom branch. I loved that tree. My father loved that tree. In the end, even my mother loved that tree. Our guests that Christmas season thought it was, well, odd.