Shortly after Thanksgiving, my wife, son and his girlfriend went to pick out our Christmas trees at the same lot to which we have been going for the last 20 years or so. This time was different. It was also the first time that we would be buying two trees. One for our house and the other would be the first tree for my son and his girlfriend. Like most new couples, there are many difficult decisions to make; cat or dog, where to spend the holidays and live or artificial tree. After much very well crafted debate, they decided to also get a live tree. We couldn’t be happier with all of the life choices they have made (yes, they are dog people as well).
The other thing that was different this year was the number of families at the tree lot. Normally there is a handful of extended families that brave the cold and mud to spend an endless amount of time trying to come to some type of consensus as to what defines the perfect tree. This year the SUV’s filled the lot and spilled out onto the road. It looked like black Friday at Walmart. There was no time to casually browse through the field of neatly displayed trees. If you didn’t latch onto the first tree that caught your eye, by the time you returned to the tree, someone had the boughs in a death grip and the same look in their eye that our dog has when protecting his tennis ball. So much for “Let there be peace on earth”.
In a year where nothing was normal, live tree sales skyrocketed this season. Just like the unprecedented demand for pets and even Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies, we have turned to things that bring us comfort. It is no surprise then that we have turned to that smell of pine that immediately returns us to our youth.
Now it was time for the really fun part. While trying to get the tree into the house and perfectly plumb in the stand, I fired off a salvo of “naddafingas” that would make Ralphie Parker’s father proud. Then it was time to string the lights. As this too can be an overly frustrating process, I usually require something liquid and on the rocks to take the edge off of the holiday stress. With glass in hand and our favorite Christmas carols playing in the background, I am perfectly equipped to thread 107 strings of lights into the stabbing boughs of a 9’ fir.
Each year I select Michael Franks’ “Watching the Snow” to set the perfect holiday mood. This is a very non-traditional CD (I know, the music format and artist dates me as a boomer but I make the Gen X cutoff by a year). This CD includes songs like “Christmas in Kyoto”, “I’ll have an Island Christmas” and “I Bought You a Plastic Star for Your Aluminum Tree”. Hardly the stuff of Nat Cole, roasted chestnuts and open fires. Sounding just a bit like Yogi Berra, it is amazing how things that you do every year become traditions.
As much as I am hopeful for a traditional Christmas, I know that won’t be the case. Social distancing will put a temporary freeze on parties and extended family gatherings. My son will be spending the holiday with his girlfriend’s family, as he should. That means that at the end of the day, it may be just my wife and I, sitting on the couch next to the radiant tree, watching a Christmas Story. All in all, maybe not such a bad tradition.
