A Perfect Time Finding a
Perfect Tree—A Memoir
BY DUNCAN LONGBERRY
I
n December when Christmas time is in
the air, most everyone goes Christmas
tree shopping. While it might be
stressful for others, for me ti is a merry time with my family. My brothers come
and we have snowball fights among the
trees. We go to the same place every year
for our wonderful Christmas trees. It is called
The Homestead. Over the years it has
offered us great Christmas trees, and the
owners welcome us with open arms.
loose noodles, it gets wrapped in a net and
tied to the top of our car.
While this is happening, we go into
the warm and welcoming old barn to eat
popcorn and drink hot cocoa. As we step in,
we smell the pine boughs from the decorations and the butter popcorn. Somehow the
popcorn and cocoa taste better than anywhere else. Usually we buy ornaments and
gifts for teachers and others on our list. For
one teacher who collects mouse ornaments,
I buy a bell shaped like a mouse. For another,
we find peppermint candy cane ornaments.
On the way to gather our festive moments, the falling snow always calms me.
When we get there, my parents try to look
for trees while I have a snowball fight with
my brothers. The snow is cold on my hands
as it slips down into my gloves. I continuously hide behind trees and hit my brothers with
icy cold spheres. I shout, “I got you again!”
and run to another hiding spot. This time is
special because I don't get to spend much
time with my brothers, as they are in college
and much older than me.
After all this time, fun and good spirits, it is finally time to pile into the car. On
the way home, we listen to Christmas music.
Sometimes we sing along, and no one cares
whether we are in tune. For some people,
Christmas tree shopping can be upsetting,
even maddening, but for me, it's the best
time of the year.
When we look for the tree, we try to
find one not too tall, short, fat, skinny, full, or
with no limbs at all. Finally, we think we find
it, but someone objects and we move on. At
last we stumble upon a tree of average size
and good health. Once it's decided, it always
brightens my attitude to know that we have
found the perfect tree. After the workers cut
down our tree and shake it to remove the
PHOTO ZSOLT ZSIGMOND
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