My favorite Christmas

The sun was still sleeping when my brother Jay and I rolled out of our beds on the Saturday before Christmas in 1952. The sound of grandpa feeding coal into the furnace was emanating through the large heat register near where we were dressing on that cold winter morning. Grandma was downstairs in the kitchen preparing a breakfast of Scottish scones, sausage, eggs and hot chocolate. Like the great lumbermen of the northwest we needed to be well nourished for our hike to the tree lot to select the perfect scotch pine. Leggings, boots, scarves, gloves were the only difficult things about winter...it took forever to get dressed to go out in the snow.

I was 8, Jay was 6 almost 7 and grandpa we never asked we just knew we loved him and he loved us. Out the back door and down the steps we went stopping near the garage to pick up a sled for the Christmas tree. The morning sky was blue while the sun reflected a warmth on our countenances as temperatures hovered in the low twenties. Perfect weather for the hunt. A good six inches of hard pack snow was under our feet which made for great gliding offering several opportunities for Jay and I to sled down the sidewalk. It was three whole blocks to the nursery at Livernois and Tireman. The lot was filling up fast with families pulling sleds and toboggans.Trees were priced from fifty cents to three dollars, a bit higher than I remembered from the year before. Grandpa said we could go as high as two bucks. It didn't take long till we found a tree that was pleading for our attention. It had a $3 tag but the owner liked grandpa because he shopped there for his garden supplies. He said, "I'll take a couple dollars for it Bill but you'll have to tie it to the sled yourself...I'll give you some twine." It was a deal. We sang Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman as we took turns pulling our perfect Christmas tree home.

Grandma and grandpa born and raised in Aire, Scotland migrated after World War I to Canada and then the United States. During life's journey they learned a lot about Christmas which they taught us in word and deed. From the birth of Jesus Christ to the fun customs of Santa Claus, Jingle Bells, Frosty, Rudolph and many others. The tree had to be sawed at the bottom and grandpa knew just where to make the cut. Then he turned it around and around snipping and clipping a little here and there until it was perfectly shaped. The radio began playing "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like

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