Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.
~From the television show The Wonder Years
As a little girl, the worst part of the Christmas season was helping my mom pack up the tree ornaments and taking down the tree at the end of the season. One by one, we would carefully wrap up each special piece until the next year and then I would watch as Dad picked up the tree and hauled it out to the backyard where it would sit discarded, until it finally made its way to the garbage dump.
I hated that our beautiful tree, the centerpiece of our Christmas celebrations only days earlier, was deemed useless after only a few short weeks. It seemed like such a waste, and it never failed to bring me to tears.
I was about ten years old when my dad came up with a fantastic idea that changed the way that we would look at Christmas trees. Why throw out the tree that gave us so much joy, when we would keep it forever to enjoy every Christmas? Because my dad was a talented hobbyist woodworker, he had the great idea to create tree ornaments from the lumber of the previous year’s tree.
That year, after Mom and I had packed up all of the decorations, Dad and I took the tree to the snow-covered backyard and cut off all the branches until only the tree trunk was left. Then I watched as Dad took the tree trunk down to his woodshop in the basement and sliced it into boards. The boards would have to dry for most of the year until the lumber would be ready.
The following December, Dad and I began brainstorming different ideas for ornaments that we could make out of last year’s tree. Dad was in charge of the construction aspect, and he would build as many tiny ornaments as he could out of the limited lumber. And I was in charge of the finishing. I would spend hours varnishing the completed ornaments and putting the little final touches on each one.
For our first project, we chose to make tiny houses decorated for the Christmas season. We managed to create eight little houses complete with peaked roofs and chimneys. I decorated them with windows and doors and glued a miniature wreath on the front and back of each house.
Every Christmas, picking out the perfect Christmas tree became the job that Dad and I enjoyed together. The two of us would head out in search of the perfect tree. It had to be a nice big tree, full and lush enough to hold all of our ornaments. But most importantly, the tree had to have a good thick trunk that would provide enough lumber to create decorations for the following year.
Most years we could get about eight ornaments from the previous year’s tree. And as soon as they were finished, together we would hang them on the tree where they were admired by everyone else in the family. Friends and family could not believe that we could make such beautiful ornaments from a Christmas tree trunk, and holiday guests would inevitably head over to our tree to admire the latest creation.
Year after year, we continued our tradition. After the inaugural houses, we created Santa’s sleighs, piled high with wrapped gifts. Another year, we made little tables that were set for the Christmas season. Each year was special because we did it together. We carried on the tradition for ten years until I moved away to go to University. That final year Dad created the topper for our family tree, which represented our family perfectly—a sailboat.
I cannot imagine a Christmas tree that is filled with more love and meaning than my family’s tree. Each ornament has been made with love, and the memory of the Christmas trees past. And even now that I am grown with a family of my own, I still cherish our family tree, and the memory of what my Dad and I created together.
