Greetings all--back today from the hospital, and while not 100% do feel
better that I ever dreamed I would at this stage. Looking forward to
every day being better than so many I had had prior to surgery!
I found the following in my in box (along with three infected
emails--everyone please take a minute and update your virus software and
do a scan) and wanted to pass it along to you all because this is, after
all, a sentimental sort of hobby, don't you think?
The sender of this letter is a dear friend of mine, and the author is
her sister, and the mom they talk about was a fine woman who brought her
family through major challenges, not the least of which was a radical
mastectomy. The cancer finally took her 32 years after the mastectomy.
She was a tough old bird and we loved her very much. But anyway, here's
her daughter's writing, and a hello from me, and a thank you to everyone
who sent such warm wishes for my recovery!
Robin, List Administrator
-----email------
my little sister erin wrote about one of the traditions my mom started
when erin was still tiny...by that time i was 10
years old, but it's a tradition i carry on as well today with my
family...i hope you enjoy it...because this will be the 4th
christmas i won't see or hear from my mom since her passing in '99, the
last line of my sister's essay really hit
home about why this particular tradition is so meaningful...
:diana (gulick hartman)
A Christmas Tradition
by Erin Gulick Dresher
My mother would never hear of having a fake Christmas tree in the house
so
ours were always real. "You can't get that wonderful smell of pine when
you
vacuum up needles if they are fake." She called decorating the Christmas
tree
the "ultimate artsy craftsy." She got very, very into it and infected
her
five children with the need to make every Christmas tree even better
than the
last.
As we were growing up the closest tree lot was down the street. We'd
walk
past the house next door, cross the alley, past the duplex (or however
many
people lived there, sometimes it was hard to tell) across the street,
past
Santa and into the lot (Santa had to wait so that I could have some
say-so in
picking the tree). We always bought the best-looking Charlie Brown
Christmas
tree. When I was little I thought it was because mom was such a fan of
the
Peanuts gang. When I was older I realized it was because we were poor
and
they were cheap, but at 30 they are still the only tree I will buy for
my own
house.
In order to create the "ultimate artsy craftsy" you must have plenty of
open
spaces amongst branches to let all kinds of ornaments hang freely. And
branches can't be too close to each other or the tinsel will not
properly
hang. We never had enough boxes of tinsel. Mom got very excited the
first
year we had ceiling fans and there was just enough of a constant breeze
to
make the tinsel move and sparkle amongst the multicolored lights.
Before, she
would walk by and blow to create the breezy effect.
After selecting the tree and talking to Santa for a few minutes we'd
head for
home. The tree rarely fit into our house at its regular height and they
say
it will keep better if you cut an inch or two off the bottom before
putting
it into the stand. Most people I know, no, all the people I know, throw
these
tree trunks stumps away. Not my mother! I have every single tree stump
since
I was born. That's right, every tree trunk stump from every Christmas
tree
since my birth.
Every year we connect all the stumps by brass hooks, chronologically,
and
display them from plant hangars in the ceiling. The year is written on
each
stump. Inevitably, each year someone comments, "1977 must have been a
good
year," as it is the largest and widest stump of all.
In 2000 my first child was born. I wrote 2000 on the stump and
"Abigail's
first Christmas." A friend watched me add it to the previous 20-some
years of
stumps. She suggested I keep that stump for myself and cut another stump
for
Abby. "When your children leave the house they should ALL have their own
set
of stumps." Silly me, the youngest of five and the only one in
possession of
the family tree trunks, I never thought to cut enough for everybody. So
now I
have my continuing collection and another starting for my daughter.
I know of no one else with our tradition. When people first see it they
usually ask "what is THAT?" When they realize what it is they usually
think
it's pretty cool, but still strange that we save them. I tend to think
they're actually a bit jealous they don't have their own historical
collection. When we think of Christmas memories--times with friends and
family, the food, the presents, the shopping, the snow, the music--we
usually
only have mental pictures, photographs or video (or 8 mm film for those
of us
old enough).
But in my family, we can actually touch each past Christmas.