Thread Spool Ornaments

Past its prime, she tossed the old fake tree in the dumpster. It was dark already at three o'clock in the afternoon; night arrives early in the Arctic.

Appalled, her soldier boyfriend went to retrieve it, but she stopped him. "It can't be erected. There will be no tree this year; I can't afford one."

That would not do; he was a man, and they fixed things.

Secretly, he searched for a living tree in a remote section of military land. The stubby, black spruce he chopped reminded her of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, a bit lopsided with sparse branches. Her childhood family Christmas trees were large Scotch pines or noble firs. She couldn't resist teasing him while he fixed the tree in a stand.

After he methodically strung the lights, the girl and mother lovingly decorated the branches. The spruce was fancifully dressed in antique glass ornaments, and some handmade ornaments made of wooden thread spools with pipe cleaners for arms and legs and clothing in bright green felt costumes glued onto the spools. Large white balls sporting pictures of the Campbell's Kids Soup Ornaments found special spots on the tree.

That long-ago Christmas morning, the three of them opened presents next to a living evergreen, enjoying its fresh fragrance.

A/N - the two ornaments shown here are still on my tree. This is a true story in free verse. The daughter is grown and I've been married to the soldier almost thirty-eight years.

Copyright ©12/10/2024 by Andrea O. Corwin

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