I was directing a church choir and chairing an ecumenical Christmas concert in those early days but I was finding that for some reason I was oh, so sick every Christmas, coughing and sneezing and losing my voice. I sucked on lozenges to get through the season but I never recovered until mid-January. I considered it my yearly cold until I finally remembered that my grandmother (my father's mother) and my aunt Florence both were allergic to Christmas trees.
I could no longer have a real tree even one from a dumpster. My mother came to the rescue with a sizeable check for a good artificial tree.
Now my mother sometimes gave me a check for a Christmas present for myself. She figured she didn't have to shop and she felt I needed nice clothes. I would take her check, find some nice like new outfit at Goodwill and put it in a Marshall Fields box, wrap it and put it under her tree. The balance would go for presents for Chris. OK, it was sneaky, but we were really hard up for money. My mother never knew the difference, I had a nice piece of clothing and Chris had better presents than he would have had.
This year I needed a tree. I put it off as long as I could. Finally I went to Menards three days before Christmas to see if I could get a good deal. I was thinking I would get a short table top tree and would have to make do with that.
Instead, I arrived when the store was taking down the Christmas displays. I made an offer and found myself with a seven foot tree. Even better, it came with lights and ornaments. Suddenly, Chris and I had a beautiful tree that required no home made paper decorations. The lights looked like poinsettias, the ornaments were musical instruments.
And I had around $50 left I could spend on Chris!
The lights finally wore out after perhaps twenty years, but the ornaments are still with me. Five years ago, at a post Christmas sale, I found a dozen drums for a dollar. Two years ago at a rummage sale I found a box of eighteen more of the expensive gold colored instruments for $2.00.
Yesterday, during the book signing at Sissy's, I found two wooden instruments.
I no longer direct a choir and the ecumenical concert ceased to exist a few years ago, but the music is still with me on my tree.
I could no longer have a real tree even one from a dumpster. My mother came to the rescue with a sizeable check for a good artificial tree.
Now my mother sometimes gave me a check for a Christmas present for myself. She figured she didn't have to shop and she felt I needed nice clothes. I would take her check, find some nice like new outfit at Goodwill and put it in a Marshall Fields box, wrap it and put it under her tree. The balance would go for presents for Chris. OK, it was sneaky, but we were really hard up for money. My mother never knew the difference, I had a nice piece of clothing and Chris had better presents than he would have had.
This year I needed a tree. I put it off as long as I could. Finally I went to Menards three days before Christmas to see if I could get a good deal. I was thinking I would get a short table top tree and would have to make do with that.
Instead, I arrived when the store was taking down the Christmas displays. I made an offer and found myself with a seven foot tree. Even better, it came with lights and ornaments. Suddenly, Chris and I had a beautiful tree that required no home made paper decorations. The lights looked like poinsettias, the ornaments were musical instruments.
And I had around $50 left I could spend on Chris!
The lights finally wore out after perhaps twenty years, but the ornaments are still with me. Five years ago, at a post Christmas sale, I found a dozen drums for a dollar. Two years ago at a rummage sale I found a box of eighteen more of the expensive gold colored instruments for $2.00.
Yesterday, during the book signing at Sissy's, I found two wooden instruments.
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