The Dawkins Family Christmas Trees

As promised, here is a look back........The Dawkins Family Christmas Trees. 

Early, early in my childhood, I remember buying a tree from the Humpty Dumpty.  Back in those days, grocery stores even had trees.  I am going to go out on a limb and say I remember that tree costing us $7.  I may be wrong on that since that sounds like a lot for 1957 or there abouts, but hey, it is my story and the other four kids won't remember a thing about it.  I am sure there were other times we bought a tree, but mostly I remember the cedars.

Probably more years than not, we cut down one of the many cedars on our property.  The north place held the greatest number of attractive, stickery trees.  You kids know that because of all the times we trampled through the woods on Thanksgiving day to find mistletoe and cedar to make wreaths.  I mostly remember daddy taking us kids to cut the tree with mom left behind.  Looking back, I don't really blame her for opting out on this chore.  As much as I love my "alone" time, I can imagine mom wanting just a moment of quiet.  I didn't realize that she never had much alone time until I had two kids of my own.  Can you imagine five?  Truth be known, she was probably back at the house fixing supper, wrapping presents, making candy, folding laundry (another post to come).  I can't really imagine mom not doing something even if she did have a few minutes of alone time, can you? 

About two weeks before Christmas, we would grab our coats, our "old" coats for we would definitely come back with all sorts of grasses and weeds stuck to them; our "bring the cows in" coats.  We would all pile into the pickup (with n'er a thought to call a pickup a truck), not a seat belt one, and bounce our way over the terraces and ditches until we came to an area that held the best prospects for a tree.  Can you imagine those pickup doors flying open with five kids falling all over themselves trying to the first one out, running with excitement across the winter wheat (Oh that smell.  There is a distinct odor of living on the farm, way out in the country breathing fresh air.  Again, I wish everyone could experience it.) and into the woods to see who could scout out the best tree?  After we found the "perfect" tree, we came home all excited with red faces and noses, and hands cold as ice, but oh how happy we were.  We were sure that Momma needed to know every detail.  I have tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat just remembering those smiling faces.  

Sometimes the perfect shaped tree was not to be found on our property, but Daddy had the answer.  He improvised by cutting limbs from other trees and wired them into those flat places and nobody ever knew.  It was perfect to every one of us kids.  See kids, not everything has to be perfect.  Sometimes those imperfections turn out to be a perfect memory.

We never had a silver shiny metal tree like my grandmother's, but by the time five kids got through putting on silver tinsel you'd never know that it ever was a green tree.  I had one sister who insisted that each strand of tinsel be carefully draped over a limb, one strand per limb.  You had four others who believed that more was better and if you wanted to get it done fast, then you just chunk it at the tree, falling where it may.  Sometimes it was a race to see who could get rid of their allotted tinsel the fastest so we could go beg Mom for more.  I can still see that wadded up tinsel gobbed on some limbs and none on others...well..except those single beautiful stands my sister had painstakingly applied.   

Aw.....I wish everybody could see those trees through my eyes because, folks, they truly were a beautiful sight.  All that tinsel could really make the colors from the lights of the tree dance, dance, dance.  I don't recall a lot of ornaments, but from the perspective of a ten year old, ornaments really didn't matter.  All that mattered was on the tree, lights and tinsel, for nothing is more beautiful than the soft glow of those old opaque lights and the tinsel reflecting each color.  Magical.  Nothing short of magical.

The magic is still there folks.  You have to open your heart and be willing to look for it through the eyes of your "child" heart.  Not everything has to be sophisticated or modern or have that decorator look.  Open your hearts for the magic.  I love you!