The "Christmas Tree Memories" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was fastening the Christmas tree to the wall. Always did that every year. When I was younger and lived on Queen Street I rode my new bike into the Christmas Tree and knocked it over. Cried quite a bit and Mom and Dad weren't too happy. When I got married and moved out of the house, every year I would anchor the tree so it wouldn't fall down. Not hard to do and it prevents any accidents. I could always picture the tree laying on the floor from when I was younger and didn't want that to happen to my kids. When we lived on Janet Ave. we had hardwood floors so I would drill holes through the tree stand into the floor and screw the tree stand to the floor. Also would attach the tree to the plaster wall with a wire and anchors. Wasn't taking any chances and it certainly wasn't going anywhere. We had cats most of our marriage and they liked to explore the tree from time to time. When we finally moved to our current house I stopped with the screws in the floor, but I still anchor it to the wall with wire. Put permanent screw eyes into the window frames for the tree fastening. A few years ago we purchased this monster tree from my friend Dean who sells Christmas Trees. Short needle tree that must have been 15 feet high and 8 to 10 feet across. It was so big we couldn't get it in or on the car so Dean said he would deliver it for us. Didn't say when though. Later that evening I needed to go to the store and opened the garage door and started backing out of the garage. Suddenly felt like I was running over something. Yep, he had delivered the tree and put it right in front of the garage door. Had to fasten the side I ran over against the wall so you wouldn't see the branches I broke off. And .... the tree was so big that when it came time to take it down, I had to cut most of the branches off before we tried to take it through the front door. Oh, the memories go on and on and on. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS -Pixs from top: Me just before I knocked the tree down on Queen Street, Derek watching me fasten the tree to the wall on Janet Ave. and our huge tree that needed the branches cut off to get through the front door.