Erin The Great

Having come from the land of Christmas trees, I thought everyone in the world went down the road with their saw in toe to chop down their piece of Christmas Spirit.

I was told around the tender age of 10 or 11 that Oregon provided for a good chunk of the world’s Christmas trees but figured ‘Hey, they probably charge some crazy amount… like 10-15 bucks’. Tragedy struck on a dark December day. I had been in Utah about 5 months when it came time to decorate for the holidays and carry on the ever-loved tradition of going to pick out a tree. Since I was nowhere near family I thought I’d carry on the tradition myself. I went down to the local market where I saw the trees. There they were, in all their majestic beauty ready to be taken home and decorated to an inch of it’s life with tacky decorations that make everyone smile. I go up to the tree that had ‘pick me’ all over it and I looked at the price tag WHAT? $50 bucks? What the? I couldn’t believe it; my world was shattered in the thought that I might not have a Christmas tree on my first Christmas away from home.

Tears started welling up as I thought about the injustice of such a price on an article I’d clearly taken for granted having been raised in the Northwest. Hope was waning. I walked into the store hoping to uplifted by all the fat Santas and headed for the ‘comfort food isle’ in hopes that a little Dr. Pepper and a can of easy cheese would ease my pain, but to no avail. A dark cloud had welled over my spirit and it would take a miracle to raise it again.

I drove home listening to Carly Simon hoping that with her hurt I’d find consoling. I walked up to apartment and started thinking of all the Christmases and all the trees that I’d known when an idea came to mind. I remembered a story about a family I grew up with one year that had forgotten to purchase a tree and had used their vacuum cleaner as a substitute. For moment I had hope, but how was I to proceed? I went to the linen closet where there in it’s glory stood a vacuum that had long been neglected due to the fact that it no longer worked. I took it out, studied it and walked back to my car. ‘I will have a Christmas tree!’ I’d proclaimed with delight!

After heading to the local Wal-Mart, I walked up and down the isles looking for something that would cleverly disguise my vacuum when I came upon the garland. There amongst the mass quantities of garland was some green tree looking stuff that I figured would do the trick. I found some cheap decorations and some lights and headed home eager to show ‘The Man’ that it could be done on my own terms. I got home and got right to work. I worked on that bad boy for over an hour wondering how this was all going to turn out. I was finally finished with my masterpiece. I stepped back and took a look, it was amazing. My Christmas spirit had returned. All was happy throughout the land. My Christmas would be whole once more.