Cedar Tree, oh Cedar Tree

Oh, our cedar tree

Christmastree..Christmastree….when will we cut down our Christmas tree?  That question hung in the air until Mom nudged Dad enough to take care of that yearly tradition.

Finally, we climbed up into the bed of the 1946 Ford truck and huddled together in frozen air on frozen metal, and smiled at the very thought of the tree.  THE Tree that would be ours, stood on a white hill watching and waiting for us.  Our Tree we exhaled through icy fogged air.

Powdery, fresh snow stays in my mind even now: stepping and then sinking up to our knees, laughing.  Eagerness kept us warm as we raced ahead of Dad, who strode easily with the ax on his shoulder.  This one?...How about this one?...No!  Look, there is one!

Somehow the perfect tree was always found and Dad cut it down.  Hoisting it up on his shoulder, we carried the starry top, never knowing just how heavy the tree truly was.

Scent of cedar filled the bed of the truck where the tree barely fit, with us tucked around and through it.  We inhaled it cedar air down to our home, laughing all the way.  

Santa: the real adventures

My "Samuel and Santa Clause" post isn't ready until Monday, Dec. 23, so the site was blank this morning.

I could not leave that as it was.

Here is a video, short and sweet.

Hope the last days of shopping do not wear you out.  There is also the wrapping of presents marathon ahead.

Wednesday Words: Natalia

Source: Wikipedia...White House tree

As Papa carved a wooden doll, he muttered, “She will be as stiff as last year’s Christmas tree…”

Mama laughed.  “That is because this trunk is from last year’s tree!  From the church!” 

It had been a huge tree, nearly twenty feet tall.  The trunk revealed itself to be large and well-formed.  Papa could see a doll in the wood for his precious daughter, Natalia.

Mama fashioned a gown from Papa’s crimson flannel shirt, now mottled with time.  She had spent weeks spinning and weaving a blanket with a border of lines resembling railroad tracks.   This would cover a little girl, holding her new doll.

Source: on ebay...interesting site!

To some people, such a small gift would appear to be insignificant.  To a little girl named Natalia, it would mean everything.