Wayne and I's first Christmas together happened in Winter Park, Florida (the irony!). We managed to find a live tree that we could sort of afford on Christmas Eve day. We decorated the tiny Charlie Brown tree in shorts and t-shirts, with ornaments that my mother and mother in law had mailed to us from VT. We still hang those decorations (beside Barbara Moseley's from the Vernon Historians) on our tree 35 years later. Though our parents have long since transitioned to artificial trees and my mom now lives in FL while we are in VT, Wayne and I have maintained our childhood tradition of a live tree.
Oh sure there are other wonderful traditions like my mother in-law's sticky buns, her saving wrappings for the next year and my mother's Christmas Tourtiere. My mother passed down to me a piece of green cloth that she used to cover her coffee table during the family party. I did the same with my own children reveling in the festive addition. It wasn't too many years ago when I was unpacking that cherished cloth that I realized that it is in fact from a tablecloth that mom had salvaged by cutting it down. I still deeply miss Wayne's grandmother Thelma and try to say at least once during the holidays one of her endearing sentiments, "Everything is so good, God Bless!" Holding onto things while making room for new, is a balance that anyone who has ever received a child's crafted ornament on Christmas Day understands.
I have vivid memories of watching Wayne and our daughter Kayden from our living room window taking a tree out of Wayne's truck while I was holding our newborn Helen. From then on, we never again set out to get a tree prior to December 7th. As our family grew, so too did the size of our tree, with some leaving scrape marks on our ceiling and chips in the floor where Wayne was forced to cut down the trunks. When all of the kids could walk on their own, we began cutting our own trees at various farms. Let me tell you about the challenges of getting a consensus of six on the perfect tree! When Ethan grew to six foot three, he became our measuring stick for tree height and the one who helped Wayne hoist the tree onto the car roof.
One year, our youngest Abigail positively fell in love with a tiny Charlie Brown tree. Though she was fervently clinging to her tree, I thoughtlessly vetoed her choice. It seems that I had at that moment forgotten about my own Charlie Brown tree and crushed her holiday spirit. Perhaps this has something to do with her tradition of hanging a popsicle stick framed picture of Paul Rudd at eye level on the front of our tree each year.
With no kids home for Thanksgiving and Helen being in ME for her birthday, Wayne and I will be trying something both old and new this weekend. Instead of trudging through rows of perfectly manicured award winning Christmas trees at a VT farm, we have decided to go in search of a $5.00 tree in the Green Mountain National Forest. I'm pretty excited to get lost (really lost) on a cold November day while hunting down the perfect VT native Charlie Brown tree! I have decided however, that even if the kids are unable to join us for in person Christmas, Paul Rudd will be there and tiny owls with any luck will not. -Norma Manning
Post note:
When our parents transitioned into our guests and until recently, my sister's family each year, hosted us for Easter and we them at Thanksgiving. This arrangement was made so that Claire and I could both enjoy one holiday each without having to panic clean. Additionally, Wayne's sister Marsha, offered that if we were willing to drive to BF on Christmas, she was willing to host. A mention to my brothers Charles & Doug and their families, for they were also willing to travel (after they got their deer). A shout out to my brother Paul, a Physicians Assistant who works all of the holidays and his wife Darleen who has always put up with that.
I have over the years, been deeply blessed and grateful for our extended family's generosity. Though 2020 has disrupted our lives, it cannot disrupt my love for you. Wayne, Janice, Annette, we are who we are because of you. You carry on through the lessons you have taught us. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all.
Resources to help identify evergreens
Some of the Vermont native conifers I have come across here in Vernon. A frost covered Eastern Hemlock.
Update: A reader corrected me on this identification writing that this is not a Juniper, but instead an Atlantic White Cedar! So it seems that I will have to learn to call the trees in my front yard the cedars instead of the junipers. This also means that I am still on the hunt for a Juniper in town.
White Cedar / Arborvitae has been cultivated to fit the urban landscape. In it's original form, the Northern White Cedar is typically 40 to 50 feet tall with some reaching 125 feet tall.
Though native to VT Red Pine wasn't on my radar until I found this grove planted in Vernon.
Spruce are difficult for me to tell apart. Though my father in law says that this spruce belongs in the mountains and not in the lowlands, I believe, based on its menthol scent, this is a Black Spruce. This particular tree is located in my own yard.
Hi Norma! I think that the photo you have labelled as Red Cedar/Juniper is actually an Atlantic White Cedar. The bumpy, glaucous cones are distinctive. While we are out of its natural coastal range here, they are often planted as ornamentals. The northern red cedar's berries are round and blue, just as the Juniper (since it is a juniper after all, not a real cedar).
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