Day 19

Today I put up my Christmas tree. When I was growing up, we always went to a tree farm, cut down a tree and dragged it back to the truck. Then it sat in a bucket of water until after my mom's birthday. Then we could cut off the bottom again and try to get it into the tree stand. After that, we half carried and half pushed it through the door into the house. The tree stood in front of a window in the family room. Once it was standing, the bolts had to be adjusted to make the tree stand up straight. Sometimes branches had to be trimmed so the star would fit on the top. Someone had to crawl under the tree branches to add water to the stand. This had to be done carefully or the water would overflow. When the tree was standing straight and tall, Dad would put on the lights. When each light was twinkling, Mom, my sister and I would put on the ornaments, each with its own story. Then the icicles were hung with care strand by strand creating a sparkly, beautiful tree.