Story

TIS THE SEASON

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

We headed out last night to buy our Christmas tree. It’s not like me to wait this long to decorate; it was just one thing after the other this year and before I knew it, Christmas was one week away and we still didn’t have a tree.

There’s one place in town we always go to; it’s run by the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and I’d rather give them my money than some fancy nursery. At least I know all proceeds go to an excellent cause.

Right after Thanksgiving the VFW starts selling Christmas trees. A certain number of trees are immediately sent to our forces stationed overseas and others are donated to hospitals, nursing homes and other groups in need of trees to decorate. There’s a home for mentally challenged adults in my town as well as a religious retreat house run by Franciscan friars; both places receive multiple trees from the VFW.

We arrived at the tree lot around 3:30, just after the kids got home from school, and I was shocked to see some mighty slim pickings. Just the other day when I drove by there were hundreds of gorgeous trees – Blue Spruce, Scotch Pine, Douglas Fir and others. Where the heck had they all gone?

That’s exactly what I asked Phil, one of the volunteers who was working the lot last night. He told me that many of the trees were sold already, which was completely understandable; then he recounted something that just blew my mind.

The lot had been robbed the night before! Some clowns with a metal cutter snipped their way through the fence and in the middle of the night made off with about 150 trees! They were obviously organized and came with the manpower as well as the horsepower to make off with that many trees. They probably headed over to New Jersey or Connecticut to sell the trees at a huge profit.

Only despicable trash, the lowest of the low, would steal Christmas trees from the veterans! That’s like snatching a kid’s candy cane or taking an old man’s walker. It’s a real cheap shot and now the VFW was out thousands of dollars!

So, there we were on December 19th, standing in the middle of the VFW tree lot staring at a bunch of Charlie Brown Christmas trees. I actually thought about going home, climbing up to the attic and dragging down my mother’s old silver aluminum tree she used years ago when they were all the rage. But then Phil said something that brought me back down to earth.

“Sorry for the measly selection. If you head over to Redwood Nursery, I’m sure you’ll find a lot of beautiful trees to choose from.”

This guy and the VFW had just lost a ton of money and he was willing to sacrifice another sale just so I could have a gorgeous Christmas tree in my house. Wow, talk about the “Spirit of Christmas”!

We walked around the lot until we found a tree that was practically begging for us to take it home. Phil tied it onto the top of my car and we headed home.

We placed our new tree in a stand full of water and sat down for dinner. When we returned to the living room to decorate, that wonky tree looked a little fuller and stood a bit prouder and I knew it wasn’t my imagination playing tricks on me.

One little tree was all it took to remind me of the true meaning of Christmas.

NAR © 2023

This is “One Little Christmas Tree” by Stevie Wonder.

I hope you’ll join me today
as we continue with
In The Groove:
Sounds Of The Season.
It’s going to be a joyous week!
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36 thoughts on “TIS THE SEASON”

  4. What a charming story Nancy. It’s a lovely tree depicting the true spirit of Christmas.
    I remember our first Christmas together and we were broke. We’d done all our gift shopping at car boot sales and everyone got something, but we couldn’t afford a tree.
    On Christmas Eve Hubby (to be then) came home with a tree which had cost him a pound. It was the top that had broken off a bigger one, but it was perfect for us and had pride of place in the recess. Hubby’s gift was a box with balloons attached, and inside individually wrapped was a packet of cheese and onion crisps, a sherbet fountain, chocolate santa, a bag of salted peanuts, a bag of chocolate brazils, and a key ring which ran a short clip of Tom and Jerry fishing. 35 Christmases later (almost) he still has it, and it still works!

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  5. Nancy,

    Your Christmas tree adventure is a wild ride! Opting for the VFW tree adds a cool twist to the tradition. The unexpected tree theft is shocking, but Phil’s selfless suggestion and sacrifice for your tree embody the true spirit of Christmas.

    ~David

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  8. While we didn’t have morons steal our local stash, our bountiful Boy Scout tree lot this year was beautifully full until the end of Thanksgiving weekend when all the out-of-state skiers bought theirs and trucked them home. So, we ended up with a Charlie Brown tree as well, but at least the Scouts got to profit!

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  9. Pardon me for saying it, but you have to be a real asshole to steal Christmas trees from the VFW. And I’ll bet they’ve set themselves up a nice little lot and are selling the trees for about twice what the VFW is selling them for.

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      1. Thank you for your kind thoughts, but it’s me and Frankie until they all arrive at 1.00 pm for the luncheon … they are bringing the food, and I’m doing the pudding 😊😍🎅🐶

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  12. Expected nothing else than what you did.

    What is achingly frustrating though, even more than the stealing of the trees, is that USA still has over 40,000 homeless veterans. And still has not solved this issue that exists since 1930s!

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    1. Those statistics boggle the mind, Nick, especially since homelessness, particularly among veterans, is one the most easily solvable problems. There is no reason why homelessness should exist, not just from a moral viewpoint but from a practical one. The politicians and obscenely rich bastards need to get off their fat asses and put their money where the mouths are. The gap between the haves and have nots widens every day; it’s truly a disgusting, heartbreaking and frustrating situation.

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  13. I didn’t tick like easily because I am appalled by the scum that could steal from a charity! I hope they do no profit and I hope they feel a tinge of guilt…. But some people are souless?
    Is that your tree in the photo it is beautiful I love it….if not I still love it!
    At least you got the Christmas spirit and the video was just perfect 🎁💜💜👍💜

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    1. It is appalling, Willow, and despicable.
      This WAS my tree back in 1990, the year the robbery took place.
      We bought a lot of trees from the VFW and they’re still in business selling trees every year, but now we have that pull-up Christmas tree I wrote about a few days ago. No more real ones.
      That song by Stevie Wonder is a new one for me and as soon as I heard it the other day, I knew I had to write about the VFW and our scrawny tree! It’s a gorgeous song, isn’t it? 🤎

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      1. It’s a lovely song indeed 💜 and I did wonder why you were out buying a real tree when you have that fabulous pop up tree….
        I am almost ashamed to be human sometimes.💜💜💜

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