A Truly Unique Holiday Tradition

Most children didn't have the passion I did for Christmas decorating. I loved to craft ornaments and bead garland. Even popcorn garland & paper snowflakes or strings of paper rings were enough to make me grin with holiday cheer. One year I strung hundreds of feet of popcorn garland to decorate my Grandmother's three, large pine trees scattered throughout the front yard. It was such a pretty sight to mingle with the thick blanket of snow covering the ground and extended branches of the trees.

The popcorn only lasted a few days normally. All the hungry birds, that didn't travel south for the winter, ate their fill of it. Knowing that the birds weren't both cold and hungry made it better for me. I loved the holidays so much that my Grandmother would often let me decorate her tree & house as elaborately as I desired. Some years were grandiose, others were theme-based, but there was one Christmas that especially sticks out when I was eight years old.

My eyes were full of visions of sparkling lights, snowy village scenes, and Grandma's tall Christmas tree. I was on my way to my Grandmother's house and knew there would be some decorating left to do as usual. However, this year my spirits plummeted as soon as I opened the door and found her tree already put together for the season. Now, you must understand that I simply loved the decorations and would simply fuss about that tree for hours, adjusting a branch here and there, until it looked lush and full all around. I could never cheat the backside of the tree it was as beautifully decorated as the more visible areas.

For a while, I moped around the living room until my Grandmother asked,"What is the matter?" I sighed and told her how I was looking forward to our usual decorating this Christmas. She needed some time to think of a way to make it up to me, so she went and sat in her favorite chair by the kitchen table. After a short while, she told me she had an idea.

We went into the foyer, where an old, wooden coat tree stood. It was full of cobwebs with layers of settled dust built-up on the top. She pulled it away from the wall and started to dust it off until it had nice sheen to it. While she worked on the coat tree, she explained that unexpected company dropped buy and they refused to take no for an answer regarding her Christmas tree. Next, she pulled out a small box of leftover Christmas ornaments and told me that since we were out of trees, we just needed to see what we could do to spruce up this old coat tree.

That is exactly what we did as silly as it sounds. It got the full works, lights, garland, and ornaments. I've never forgotten her creative solution to a little girl's woes or the fact that she played right along with me, no matter how goofy the rest of the family thought we were. From that Christmas forward, it became a bit of a tradition for the two of us.