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About
two weeks before
grandpa would go out into the woods
and chop down a Cedar tree for Christmas
then he'd throw it on a sled
(not a fancy sled like you see on postcards now
but more like a wood pallet)
pulled with chain harness by old Charley
the sway back horse grandpa kept for sentimental reasons
and he'd bring the tree up to the farm house
and unload it there by the picket fence
and then turn old Charley out for grazing
(there was still some green winter grass behind the barn)
then granddad would heave the Cedar tree up the steps into the house
and set it up in the corner of the main room
and grandma would come decorate it with candy canes
she got at the five and dime in town
and scraps of ribbons and bows she had left over
and with any homemade decorations she had made
then she'd top it off with the silver angel
which she had got from her mother and her mother got from hers
then that would be it
nothing fancy
but it was the most beautiful Christmas tree there ever was
its Cedar aroma filling up the house
and the room all aglow from the fire in the pot-bellied stove
the only warm place in the house
there weren't many presents in those days
because people didn't have much back then
but what they did have in abundance
was good old fashioned love
spread freely amongst the welcomed guests and family
between grandmas and grandpas and uncles and cousins
Love was all they had to give
back when Christmas meant something
besides greed and excess
so love was what was exchanged
and that love is still remembered
and that homemade Christmas tree
still sits in a corner of this little boy's memory
you cannot forget a Christmas like that
the Cedar Tree Christmas of
so long long ago.
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