The Ugliest Little Tree You Ever Did See

In the years following World War II if you were Catholic parents the clergy from pope to parish priest gave the command to “Go forth and multiply” and the parishioners listened and obeyed.  Families with anywhere from 8 to 14 kids was the norm…any less then 6 unheard of. I came was raised in one of those families and with four brothers and four sisters some interesting things happened over the years we were growing up. We fought each other like cats and dogs but we also loved each other dearly. When I look back it is memories like I’m about to tell you that stand our more then the poverty the sicknesses and the hardships my parents endured.

Christmas was just two days away and we’d yet to get that special huge fir tree that dominated our lives Christmas Eve and all the days that followed till only the lack of needles forced us to take it down. My brother Moe my older brother by a little over a year usually went with Dad to seek out our tree drag it through the woods and help getting it even in the stand for decorating Christmas Eve. This year though Dad had been working all overtime he could get to try and pay-down the Sears and Roebuck account that had taken a beating with the toys clothes for nine kids. We were each allowed one toy and if enough money one outfit for Christmas each year so needless to say our Sears catalogue or “Wish Book” became pretty thick and dog-eared from all those grubby fingers seeking that one toy they were allowed.  Anyway I digress back to the story at hand…

Moe was about 14 that year and I guess that would have made me around 12 but we were the oldest so we knew our way around hatches, axes and chopping wood or so we thought.  It was Moe who came up with the idea but I bought into pretty fast which I usually did when big brother wanted me to do something with him. He was standing at the corner of the house with the little hatchet in his hand we used for making kindling for the old woodstove.  It was Saturday after dinner and I knew he had a plan of some kind that needed two of us because he wouldn’t be waiting for me otherwise.

“LeRoy you want to come with me and we’ll go get a Christmas tree to surprise Mom and Dad?” he asked. Now what kind of brother or son would I have been if I’d said no?

“Ok, but I get to carry the axe and chop down the tree to.” …duh was I dumb or what. 

Anyway the agreement was made and off we went to tackle the wilderness, which to us was an old growth of forest that so far had escaped city development, today I guess we’d call it a green belt.

We’d already received almost a foot of new snow the week before and the snow began again as we left the safety of our house on our latest adventure, Moe taking the lead with me walking in his footprints. Our “play-clothes” as my Mom often referred to them consisted of hand me downs and often our coats were from our Uncle Alex the Mountie. Mom would cut down somehow the great coat of a six foot man to fit the frame of a three or four foot child. Our boots were often patched with inner tubes and rubber cement by Dad and often plastic bags were worn over the feet inside the boots to be safe. Mittens were hand knit by my mom and usually stretched to five sizes bigger then our hands. We just doubled them up and were glad to have them when the temperature began dropping below freezing almost everyday of the winter. Snow-pants were a rarity so instead we’d wear one pair of jeans inside another which made walking kind of stiff legged to say the least.

          So dressed in our play-clothes we took our time trudging up the hill we lived on till where it tapered out into the woods. We started looking for a tree immediately but big brother said the really good trees were way back in the woods and we should go there and though by now my little legs were getting kind of wobbly trying to climb through the snow drifts and keep up with Moe’s fast pace I agreed.

The hours past and soon we were both ready to call it a day when Moe stopped and pointed yelled: “There it is LeRoy, there it is.”

“Huh?” I tried to look where he pointed but all I saw under my hood was a big tree trunk that he was pointing at. Finally stepping back I managed to look up to see the tree top that he wanted and I had to admit from twenty feet up it looked pretty good.  The snow was already falling heavy and the early winter night was speeding towards us as we began taking turns first chopping down the tree and then chopping off the top.

Exhausted from the exertion and sweating under the many layers of clothes we sat eating snow till we finally got our energy back. Moe held our tree up for me first and I reserved comment till after I held it for him turning it left or right to see which side would look the best.  I thought to myself this tree don’t have a good side not even a fair side but I quickly agreed with Moe that with a little trimming it would be fine. So taking turns dragging it behind us we started our trek back home, tired, wet and worried about what our parents would say about this ugly tree we pulled and tugged it breaking off even more branches as we went.  The darkness was complete when we finally pulled into our driveway and dumped the tree by our back.  It was then we saw Dad standing in the doorway smiling and looking down with what might have been a little pride, at least we hoped.  

Pulling on his old boots he said: “You boys go have your supper then come back out when you finished I think we can salvage her.” He laughed lifting up our tree in his big hands.

We didn’t argue just hurried to eat and soon rejoined him in the basement. He had already gone to work on the monstrosity of a tree we’d brought him.

Branches were trimmed, pruned and bent and still the were holes the size of Texas. Dad called for his old hand drill and bored holes into the trunk where these were and using the extra branches he’d cut from the base he finally grafted the tree into shape. We set to work and got the stand on it and carefully this time carried with him up to our living room. I’d like to say it was now a work of art but…no it was still the ugliest tree on the earth but we decorated it with care, lit it with pride and watered it with love.

Merry Christmas everyone!