The "Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Admiring all the decorations that my wife has placed around the house, both inside and outside, to make this Christmas season a most festive and memorable affair.  Everything from the special wreaths that are placed on the old sleds that stand outside our entry doors, to the display of dough-made figurines that call our 49 year old creche home, to the living room table filled with Carol's collection of deer, to the green ceramic tree with lighted branches that graces our second floor hallway table we purchased in 1968 during a trip to Florida.  

Carol's ceramic tree made years ago.

The house looks amazing, but I must tell you a bit more about the final item I have listed in my description above.  It was two weeks ago, during a spur-of-the-moment trip to Northeast, Maryland, that we encountered a few other ceramic trees much like the one on the table outside our bedroom door.  All were on display inside Main Street Antiques and were part of the vendor's special items they had for sale for the Christmas season.  The store looked amazing with stand after stand featuring antique Christmas items, may of them illuminated to give the store a festive aura.  We came upon one tree that looked exactly like our tree and I asked Carol, "When did you make the tree that we have?"  

It glows at night wishing Merry Christmas to all.

She made the tree in the late 1970s or maybe the early 1980s while part of a ceramic class at a corner store near our house in Grandview Heights, a development in Manheim Township, Lancaster County, PA.  The ceramic tree is really neat with green branches featuring a glaze that looks aglow.   Along the branches are small holes that open to the hollow tree.  Carol glazed the pre-poured tree and made it for our home years ago.  The tree sits upon a stand that has an small electric light inside that brightens the colored pegs that fit into the holes on the branches.  Year after year the tree had a special spot in our house on Janet Ave. and after moving to our Beach House has found another spot to call home.  I'm sure that most families who celebrate Christmas have decorations that have a special place in their home and a special meaning to their family.  Our illuminated little green ceramic Christmas tree is ours.  And it wishes all those who celebrate Christmas a Merry Christmas.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.