I know, the song isn't "Oh, Evergreen," it's "Oh, Christmas Tree." To me they are one and the same. While the dear evergreen trees have been patiently taking a back seat to the glories of autumn and the trees that paint the landscape with brilliant color, the wait is over. We've had several small snow days that have taken care of the last of the autumn leaves, and what remains to bring us joy from the natural world is the ever patient evergreen tree. This is when it finally comes into its own.
There are many, many stories we can look up that tell us the origins of using evergreen trees at Christmas, from the traditional Yule Log and branch, to a fully decked out tree. My own memories are of those cold, snowy nights when I sat looking out of the window to catch sight of my Dad's car pulling up to the curb with the Christmas tree tied to the roof (he drove a huge, 1960's era cream-white second-hand Cadillac that he restored so you can imagine what kind of a sight that must have looked like). My heart would jump with joy as I ran to the front door to catch my first glimpse, and smell, of that magnificent gift from nature. Naturally, my Mom had already been forewarned that the tree was coming, so she had the chairs pushed back and the tree stand on the floor ready to receive the prize. Once he got it into the house, we would help my Mom hold it up until he got his hat and coat off, then steady it as he crawled underneath to secure the tree in the stand. Then we would all just step back and look at it with wonder.
It was hard to get through dinner knowing that the tree trimming would start as soon as we were done. Since I came from a family that did not accept any excuses for leaving food on your plate with the exceptions of severe illness, you can bet we finished as quickly as we could so we could help my Dad haul the decorations from the basement and get the party started. It might not have been a party to the adults, but to me it was as if we were thanking the tree for giving up it's happy place out in the forest just to bring us some joy at Christmas. So, in a sense, decorating it was like dressing it up like a princess to show off its beauty and acknowledge it's sacrifice.
Sadly, we had to give up real trees because my older sister had allergies, and when I got married, my husband had them, too. Then my youngest daughter developed them, and it wasn't until years later when I became an empty nest-er and moved to upstate New York and had my own place that I had my first real tree in decades. I can't tell you the joy it brought me to see my little Charlie Brown tree sitting in my small apartment by the window covered in a few old family ornaments as well as some new, handmade ones. With the background of the trees and the river behind it through the windows, it was as if it were still in the woods showing off its Christmas dress. I eventually had to go back to artificial trees when my daughter moved up here with me, but I was blessed to find one that not only looked like the real thing, but had snow on its branches, and burlap around the bottom as if it had just come from the forest. It is surely the best of both worlds.
I only recently found out that evergreen trees can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Do you suppose Mother Nature was trying to tell us something?
And so it is.
