The Perfect Christmas Tree

As I was growing up, our family was very poor. We often didn’t have a Christmas tree and when we did, it was a sad looking one with few needles and sagging branches. If I wanted decorations on it, I had to make them myself. I remember getting all bundled up in my coat, hat, scarf and gloves and trudging through the deep snow to gather pinecones. I’d spent hours gluing bits of string to them that I’d been lucky enough to find as I was walking home from school. I’d break tiny branches off the oak trees, bend them and shape them into small birdcages. If I were really lucky, I would find pieces of red or green ribbon in the trash near the back of the fabric store in town. I was always on the look out for such things. I’d tie the ribbon to the homemade birdcages, to give them a splash of color.

My mother had an old Fair Isle cardigan that had one too many holes in it. She told me that I could have it, if I wanted it, to do with as I pleased. I unwound the whole cardigan into several balls of wrinkly yarn. I found an old box and cut out two pieces of cardboard, shaped like a doughnut and then I wound the yarn around it. When I could fit no more yarn through the hole in the center, I cut through the yarn and cardboard edge. Once I tied it in the middle, out came a fluffy pom-pom. They added color and dimension to the otherwise boring Christmas tree. It was better than nothing and it didn’t look that bad. I knew that when I grew up and had a home of my own, that I was going to have the most beautiful Christmas tree ever, with real ornaments.

I moved away from home and for some reason, I had to take that box of homemade Christmas ornaments with me. Eventually I got married; the box went with me. My husband had a good job and for the first time in my life, I was able to afford nicer things. When Christmas season came around, I was so excited. We went searching through tree lots for hours. I wanted a perfect tree. It had to be full and have a lot of branches, long and healthy needles and be fresh and strong. At last I found it. "This is it! This is the perfect tree. Can we get this one, honey?" I begged. It was a little more expensive than some of the others, but oh, it was beautiful.

"You’re right. It is a perfect tree. Let’s take it home," Jack said. I loved him for giving me that gift. We carried it in the house. "Where do you want it?" he asked.

I looked around the living room. In the house I grew up in, there was only one small window and the tree couldn’t fit in front of it. Now I had a huge window and a lot of room for a splendid tree. "Right here," I giggled. Jack set the tree down. I had to run outside to make sure it was centered perfectly. "Now, the important question, what are we going to hang on the tree?"

"Can we go shopping and look for ornaments? I want to find the perfect ornaments for our perfect tree," I laughed.

"Hi Ho! Hi Ho! Off to the store we go!" he sang. He never hesitated for a moment.

We went to the store and headed straight for the Christmas section. My eyes were aglow, sparkling with anticipation as we reached the aisle of ornaments. "Oh look!" I giggled. "There are so many!" I picked up box after box. "Do you like the multi-colored ones?" I asked.

"Whatever you want is fine with me," Jack smiled.

"Oh, these are beautiful too," I sighed. They were clear glass with silvery glitter on them and green ribbons on the top. "So are these," I added. I held up a box with shimmering gold balls. "I can’t pick. There are so many to choose from."

"I’ll tell you what, honey; I’m going to go and find us some Christmas cards. You keep looking and I’ll meet you at the car in half an hour," Jack said, kissed me on the cheek and walked over to another aisle.

I stood looking at all the different colors, shapes, and sizes of decorations. I saw musical ones that played carols, crushed velvet ones, and even balls with pictures of Santa on them. I was bombarded with Christmas colors, sights and sounds. Suddenly my heart began to tingle and swell. I knew which ornaments would go best on my perfect Christmas tree.

"Did you find what you wanted?" Jack asked, as I walked to the car. "Are we going to have the perfect Christmas tree?"

"Yes, honey. I found just what I wanted!" I replied.

As we drove home, sounds of Christmas music blared on the radio. When we pulled into the driveway, Jack suggested, "Why don’t you start decorating that beautiful tree while I make us some hot chocolate?"

"What a wonderful idea," I smiled.

I ran into our bedroom and started digging through the closet. "Where is it? I know it is in here somewhere!" I growled, moving boxes around. "Ah, there you are." I carried the box into the living room and began decorating the tree.

A while later Jack carried the hot chocolate into the room. "Honey? Is everything all right?" he asked. I sat on the couch; tears ran down my face. "What’s the matter?"

"Nothing at all, Jack. I just realized what would make our first Christmas tree perfect," I sobbed.

Jack looked at the tree. "Why, those are your old ornaments; the ones you told me about. Did you make all of these?" he said, walking over to them. "These are wonderful. They’re delightful. Look at these birdcages and little pom-poms. They’re beautiful!"

I stood next to him, caressing the pinecones. "These are part of me and they belong on our tree. I thought that buying fancy ornaments would make it a perfect tree, but I was wrong. This is a perfect tree," I sniffled.

Jack put his arm around my shoulder and held me tight. Just then, the song ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ came on the radio. "This is the merriest Christmas I’ve ever had, Jack. Thank you." My arms went around his neck and his around my waist and we danced in front of our perfect Christmas tree.

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