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The Perfect Christmas Tree
Dear Grandma Anne;
You won’t believe what Daddy and I did yesterday! We went out and picked a Christmas tree all by ourselves! Mommy was really busy baking cookies, so Dad said we would get the tree! We got to walk around in the woods and see rabbits that were cute. The rabbits even came up to us, but they ran away when I went to say hi. That’s silly. I wasn’t going to hurt it! Daddy says it’s wild, and wild bunnies are scared of people. I don’t know why. I don’t hurt nice bunnies!
We looked at lots of trees. We saw short trees as little as me! We saw big trees that were taller than our house. One tree was so fat, it looked like it was all needles. Most of the trees were kinda thin, though. Every time I picked one, Dad said it was too small or wouldn’t hold all of Mommy’s old glass ornaments.
Daddy finally picked one. It was really, really big. It was so big, it took Daddy hours and hours to chop it down! He put it in the car and we went home with it. Mommy and Ellie were in the living room, and they came on the porch. Mommy didn’t like the tree. Ellie kept laughing. Mommy said the tree was too tall. It wouldn’t fit in our house, much less the living room! Ellie thought the tree was ugly. She said it didn’t have enough needles and looked Daddy’s old comb that has a lot of teeth missing.
So, we went back to the woods. We walked around again. Daddy pointed out a big bird called a hawk that flew overhead, making funny squawks. The hawk has really big wings! Daddy says one of it’s wings are almost as big as me! Daddy started to chop down another tree, but I saw Mr. Hawk land in it. I told Daddy we couldn’t take that tree! Mr. Hawk and Mrs. Hawk and all their babies lived there! Daddy didn’t take that tree. He took the tree next to it. It was smaller, and nice and fat, with good, strong branches. I picked up some of the branches for Mommy to make wreathes and put on our mantel where the stockings are.
Mommy didn’t like that tree, either. It was too fat! It didn’t fit in the living room, or the dining room, either. Mommy liked my branches, though. She said they were nice enough to make wreaths and garlands and maybe even hang on the fancy lights in the dining room. Ellie laughed again. She didn’t think we’d get a tree from the woods! She said to get a tree from the lot next to A-Market at Hudsonville, like we always do.
Daddy and I went back, though. It was dark by then, and the woods were really spooky. There were weird shadows everywhere. Daddy said for me to hold his hand. I heard something make funny “Who? Who?” noises. Daddy says they’re owls. They only come out at night, and they only bite mice, which they eat. It was so cold! I wished I were at home with Mommy, Ellie, and our baby sister Louise. Mommy would make us hot chocolate, and we could watch Christmas cartoons with Daddy or play with Louise.
Daddy and I finally stopped by a nice tree. Well, it sort of looked nice. It was hard to tell in the dark, even with Daddy’s flashlight. It wasn’t fat, and it wasn’t tall, and it had lots of needles but not too many. Dad checked it all over to see if anything lived in it. Nothing did. He took his axe and chopped it down. I collected more branches for Mommy.
Mommy looked the tree over when Daddy brought it in. Louise was up, too. She tried to grab at a needle, which broke off in her hands. She shook it. Needles fell off and into the carpet. She finally told Daddy it was too dry to be in the house!
Well, Daddy yelled, and Mommy yelled, and Ellie just kept laughing, but we DID get a tree. It’s the nicest tree we’ve ever had, and I got to pick it from the lot next to A-Market. Daddy let me pick it, and Mommy says I did a great job. It’s not too big or too small. It has lots of needles, but they aren’t falling all over the place, and the tree looks nice in the big window in the living room. Louise can grab the needles, and they don’t come off. Daddy even held me up so I could put the star on top. Ellie isn’t laughing anymore. She thinks it’s the nicest tree we’ve ever had, too.
I can’t wait until you come and see our tree, Grandma. It smells like Christmas, all nice and piney. Dad is plugging the lights in now. Mommy says he has too much plugged in, but he knows what he’s doing.
Um, Grandma, I’m going to have to go now. And if this last part looks funny, I’m writing it in the dark. Mommy’s saying something about Daddy blowing fuses, and Dad says he didn’t blow a fuse, something just went out. I just hope they can get the lights on. A tree isn’t a tree without lights! I’m going to go outside with Ellie and play hide-and-seek in the little forest of trees on the porch. Daddy didn’t know what to do with all of the ones he chopped down, so he put them there.
Have a nice Christmas, and I’ll show you the tree on Christmas Eve!
Your grand-daughter,
Vicki