Leyland spoke softly as he comforted his weeping wife, Willow.
āHush, darling. Another season has come and gone and Iām still here to protect you and the children. I realize I had a couple of close calls but so far, so good. I never thought Iād say this but Iām thankful for my disfigurement; itās kept me from being selected and close to you.ā
Willow sighed. āI feel terribly guilty. Thereās no chance I will ever be chosen and I fear for our friends and family.ā
āI know, darling. Iāll check on Douglas today. Pray the family is all safe.ā
Author’s Note: Leyland and Douglas are very popular evergreens sold as Christmas trees. One of the saddest things is seeing all the dead and forgotten Christmas trees discarded by the curb after the season. Next time you go looking for a Christmas tree, consider buying one with its root ball intact instead of one that’s been chopped down; you can replant it in your yard or place it in a pot. Your tree gave you so much joy during the holidays; why not give it a chance to keep living?And BTW, artificial doesn’t need to have a negative connotation!
We headed out last night to buy our Christmas tree. Itās 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 didnāt have a tree.
Thereās one place in town we always go to; itās run by the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and Iād 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. Thereās 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 ā Blue Spruce, Scotch Pine, Douglas Fir and others. Where the heck had they all gone?
Thatās 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! Thatās like snatching a kidās candy cane or taking an old manās 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 motherās 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.
āSorry for the measly selection. If you head over to Redwood Nursery, Iām sure youāll find a lot of beautiful trees to choose from.ā
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 āSpirit of Christmasā!
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 wasnāt my imagination playing tricks on me.
One little tree was all it took to remind me of the true meaning of Christmas.
The Elephant's Trunk 