Christmas this week and we are all getting ready for it.  I think most of us think to Christmases past and remember things we only think about this time of year.

I remember when I was about 20, it was before I got my big break working in Columbus, and I was living where I grew up in Berea still.  My mom asked me to go get a Christmas tree for the family.  So I did, and I went out to a tree farm that doesn't exist anymore to cut one down and bring it back home.

The problem was, I was too busy looking at the trees height, fullness, and color, and it has nice.  So I sawed it down, and loaded it in my car, and drove home.  It was close to Christmas so we decided to put it up that day.  So me, my mom and brother started to put it up, and it proved challenging - to say the least.  The trunk was crooked and not by a little.  The tree holder was an older one, and the afternoon was spent trying to get it straight and not getting the lights on it.  Sheesh!  This thing was so indredibly wrong we needed an engineer to figure this out!

Books under the base, guide wires tired to a doorknob and the piano which was right next to it.  It fell a few times, and after a ton of time, we were no closer to getting it right than we were from the get-go.  At first,  I was mad and embarrassed, but after about an hour, it became laughable, and three of us had a big laugh over it.  Somehow the tree stayed upright all holiday season long and all was fine.   Although I think we had to reinforce it a few times. 

Now, we all have artificial trees and we are better for it, as it takes all the excitement out of the live three thing.  But it must be a good memory, because all these decades later, I still remember, and it still make me laugh.   I have no pictures of it, but sometimes I wish I did!  This was long before we had camera phones,

Merry Christmas!