Charlie Brown Trees

We were not affluent by any means and usually got our Christmas tree after the lots were pretty much picked over. y aunt Margaret always got a long needle, huge tree that I know was incredibly expensive, but she had to have a perfect tree. 

My mom usually picked a short needled tree with at least one spot that was best left facing the wall. My parents believed the tree was about the decorating, not the foliage.

We all decorated together. The lights were glass, screwed into a long cord. The ornaments were also glass, and antiques. They were passed from my grandmother to my mom and I think one of my sisters has them now. There was no garland. It was tinsel, delicately placed strand by strand on each branch…don’t even think about grabbing a handful or putting too many together.

There were a few exceptions – my younger sisters and brother got to put their tinsel on the back of the tree and they were not restricted. They decorated the bad side of the tree so a clump of tinsel beautifully masked the flaws.

When Christmas was over, the ornaments were put back in the boxes. Those without individual boxes were wrapped in soft paper or tissues and placed in a different box. The lights were removed and wound up and packed away. The tinsel…well the tinsel was taken off the tree and spread out on tissue paper to be covered and rolled away to be used again.

Sure – the words cheap and bald and ugly and shoddy could have been incorporated into my memory, but they are overshadowed by exciting, funny and wonderful. Our less than perfect trees were family projects, completed in love and cherished in memories.