Oh Tannebaum, Oh Tannenbaum....

I hope my memories don't get lost

     You all know what I mean.  Those memories of long ago days.  I hope to always keep them.
     Every Christmas my dad would go to the corner tree lot in search of the perfect tree.
It had to be straight, full, and cheap.
     We lived in two places when I was growing up.  The first was a third floor apartment.  It was one apartment at one time, but my grandfather divided it into two.  We lived in the front half, a one bedroom unit with a living room, dining room and kitchen.  The three boys slept in the bedroom.  My folks had a Murphy bed in what looked like a closet in the front room.  Every night they would open the glass doors, pull down the bed, and go to sleep.  In the morning they would lift the bed back up.
     I don't remember if they made the bed or not.  I wouldn't make it, but I bet my mom did.
     At Christmas the tree would stand in the circular "corner" of the room.
     No matter how hard he tried, he could never get the right tree.
     They were always balsams.....and to this day, I love balsam Christmas trees.  Jackie does not, so we get Scotch pines.
     Anyway, Dad would get the tree and bring it home.  He would put it up and we would decorate it, throwing tinsel on it like arsonists throw gasoline on a burning garage.
     At some point, the tree would fall.
     Maybe in the middle of the night, hitting the bed.
     Maybe in the morning when someone got to close.
     Maybe after we put that last batch on tinsel on and it proved too heavy on one side.
     I remember him putting hooks in the walls in the cove and wiring the tree up.  I don't think he took the hooks out.  After a few years they became permanent.
     When we moved to a house, we had a huge living room.  The tree would again stand in the curved nook and again, no matter how hard he tried, the tree would always fall.
     I remember him going to the same tree lot year after year.  It was run by Bob, or Bill, or Joe, and we would carefully check each tree before deciding on the one perfect one that would never stand up on its own.
     He would swear, and curse, light up a Marlboro, grab a beer and put the tree up again.  And again.
     I don't think Jackie and I have had a problem with trees falling....except for one year.
     When we got married, we had squat.  I actually took cardboard boxes and put wood grained Contact paper on them to create two end tables for used lamps.
     We bought a small tree and put it on the table/box.  Jackie bought some wooden paint your own ornaments and that is what used to decorate the tree.  We still have the ornaments.  I took a picture of our new baby under that tree, I remember seeing the picture. But that seems to have disappeared in the last couple of moves.
     But the memories?  I am still holding onto them.