A Christmas Story

Today is Christmas Day in the area of the world where I live - a desert.

I wanted to write a profound message but everything I thought to write felt trite and not sincerely from me. Yes, I want peace on earth, everyone to be healthy and whole, and love all around. But still - -

So - I decided to recount a memory I have of one of my past Christmases.

I was a single mom with a teenage daughter. I worked 3 jobs to make ends meet so there wasn’t a lot of time to do Christmas stuff but I promised my daughter we would go get a tree.

It was Christmas Eve (our traditional day to get a tree - because in that day and age retailers were giving them away on Christmas Eve).

We selected our tree from what was left on the Christmas Tree Lot and realized that we didn’t know how to get it home. At the time, I drove a pretty beat up old VW Beetle that had shoestring tying the passenger door shut (it used to fly open when I went around a turn).

I asked the kind man who owned the lot if he could help us get the tree secured to the top of my Beetle. He agreed and told us to get into the car and he would tie it to the roof.

He asked us to open the windows so he could pass the twine over the tree and through the windows.

We never questioned it mainly because he had just given us a free tree And he was tying it onto the car for us.

We set off with our tree, drove home and parked. We, at the same time, pulled the handle to open our doors and they wouldn’t budge. We both looked at each other at the same time and realized the same thing and laughed until tears were streaming down our faces. We were tied in! We couldn’t get out!

AND I didn’t have a knife or saw. I had my car key. I proceeded to saw the twine with my car key until I sawed through the twine.

Happy Holidays everyone and may you have happy memories no matter what your circumstances are.