A Tree From the Past

My Christmas tree was put up when my daughter and her husband came to celebrate mom's 90th birthday in Nov. Until 2 days ago, it didn't have any lights. We're a little slow, ya think? This may be the last year we use my old 'rubber' tree. They don't make them like that anymore, so I'm torn with giving it to my daughter (who said she'd rent it back to me if I decided I wanted it again) or just keeping it.

I really haven't been excited about putting it up for a number of years now, dwelling mostly on all the work involved. Each limb has to be poked into a hole to create the thing, then the dratted lights that never look right the first time. I have an over-abundance of ornaments now and usually leave a lot of the generic balls off in favor of the personal ones, like those my 30-something kids made back in the day.

Last week I spied what can only be described as a terrible excuse for a pine tree that needs to be cut down. It is growing just a foot away from a large tree at the woods edge. The pine will never make it there. But my eyes saw a very good "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree, a little one-sided and very sparse. Now, do I let it grow one more year since I already have my old faithful one up already? Or do I go ahead and cut it away from the big tree and look for another one next Christmas?

I must say the prospect of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree got me pumped again. I think it's because one of the best trees I ever had in my life was a dilapidated pine cut from  the woods when I was in my 2nd year of marriage to my first husband. I was 20 and we had no ornaments and no money to buy any. So I ended up making ornaments out of gold string and cute little gift tags and throwing on some garland. At the time it was a little pathetic, but over time I've come to cherish the memory of the tree with no lights.

To think - today all I have are lights.