The Family Tree

“Steve, please get the Christmas decorations out of the attic. Now.”

The response from the recliner in the other room was very unChristmas-like.

“Bah humbug,” a man’s voice growled.

It was the annual battle of their marriage.  Judy Gibson loved decorating for Christmas. Her husband loved watching football.

“Why are we putting up a tree anyway? The kids are gone. They live out of state.  We’re flying out to see them this year.”  Steve knew the answer, but picked at his wife anyway.

Judy quietly shook her head.  Married to Steve for nearly 40 years, she closed her eyes and remembered their wedding. The base chapel had been decorated for Advent.  She could still smell the fresh-cut cedar branches and see the burning candles.  And there was Steve, standing proudly at the alter in his Naval uniform, weighing maybe 160 lbs.   Steve was like a tree now; you could cut him in half and count forty rings from where he had put on weight over the years. Judy remembered their honeymoon at Biltmore House in Asheville. The Vanderbilt’s mansion was so beautifully decorated for the holidays. Being a young girl from Mississippi, she had never seen a house that big.  Something about the mountains, the trees and the Christmas ornaments touched her heart. When she saw the banquet room and its big tree, she vowed they would always have a great tree, too.

Father Noel’s Tree Farm had provided their one.  Steve struggled to strap it to the top of their Chevrolet Impala wagon.  She remembered it looking like a walking tree as he hauled it into their one-bedroom base apartment.  They were so poor that the only ornaments they owned  were ribbon ornaments made from a red and white checkered table cloth.  Hot lights and reflectors illuminated the dry tree. It was a miracle they didn’t burn base housing down.

It was 1972.  And since there was little Peace on Earth and goodwill to men, Steve had been overseas for most of the year.  That fall, he brought back ornaments from all his ports of call.  And then they took a trip to Hawaii. That December, their new tree had five new ornaments joining the ribbons.  Her favorite was the palm tree with the lady with the ukelele. She could almost hear Don Ho singing “Tiny Bubbles” when she saw it at the tacky little souvenir shop.

The next Christmas Steve and Judy had a new member of the family.  Frances May Gibson was born nine months after their trip to Hawaii and the new tree had a new ornament as well. It was a wooden stork with the time, date and weight of the new baby.  The next two trees found two more storks joining Frances May’s.  Steve Jr. and Albert Frances were now part of  the young family.

Steve was promoted to a command position on the U.S.S. Enterprise and soon a small aircraft carrier ornament joined the storks and the ribbons.  Judy diligently saved up Green Stamps and got a set of beautiful gold glass ball ornaments. Those were bought when they lived in Norfolk, Virginia.  There was a Norfolk ornament, too.  Every town they lived in would have its own ornament. Like in their heart, it would have a special place in their tree.

The next year, Frances May came home with a special ornament made in preschool.  It was made from a margarine lid, red construction paper and a photo of her ponytailed, tooth-missing freckled face.  Each kid would come home with similar ornaments over the years. And each would have its own place on the tree.

The next summer found the Gibsons headed to Disney World.  Most folks would have pitied the couple hauling the three kids around the Magic Kingdom. But Judy and Steve were having as much fun as the kids.  Judy saved up her spare change and bought a beautiful globe with Cinderella’s castle on it.  Mickey himself would have been proud of the place of honor given to the ornament.

In the mid-1980’s Steve came home from a cruise with a big box.  “I saw this and had to get it for you.”  Judy unwrapped the golden paper and saw the most beautiful angel she had ever seen. “I thought she looked like you,” Steve grinned. He climbed up the stepladder and proudly placed it on the top of the tree.

Steve and Judy had a little cat named Nixon when they were married.  Nixon had his ornament.  Nixon was soon joined by a terrier-mix named Snowflake.  She had her own ornament, too. Nixon tragically was hit by a Captain’s car on a rainy November night.  Snowflake died of old age and soon a small puppy named Lady Bird joined the family. The pets were well represented with ornaments. So were all the trips Steve and Judy took around the world. Barcelona, Paris, New York, Washington D.C., London all hung on their family. Steve liked the little Eiffel Tower the best.   It reminded him of holding hands with Judy during strolls down the busy Paris streets.

Tragedy struck the family in 1992.   Albert, their youngest, died in a car accident on the way to The University of Maryland.  Judy’s hand shook uncontrollably as she hung his ornaments on the tree the following Christmas. Steve had not wanted to put up the tree. He felt that they should cancel Christmas and take the family as far away from their home as possible. But Judy insisted the tree be put up.  Seeing the ornaments hang on the conifer’s branches healed her battered heart.  She stretched out on the floor every night, staring at the tree and cried.

Soon there were ornaments with college mascots, wedding photos and birth announcements. Grandchildren’s favorite toys hung from the branches.  The joy of the early 1970’s returned as the little kids stared in awe at the giant tree covered with ornaments.  Judy loved the tell the kids the stories behind every single one of them.

In 2005, Steve retired as a Rear Admiral.  A single star hung from a branch signifying his distinguished naval career.  Judy survived a bout with breast cancer earlier that year and a pink ribbon was placed on the tree.  They continued to travel.  Ornaments from towns from far across the nation soon joined the tree. They were where their children now lived. The tree and the memories it represented filled the empty nest.

“Steve, get up in the attic and get the boxes down. It’s time to decorate the tree.”

Grumbling preceded the retired Admiral as he faked protest.  He knew the importance of this day.

First the lights went up. Then the beads. Christmas music from every year of their marriage played on the iPad. Then came the red ribbons. The sacred red ribbons. They always were the first to go on. Each box held ornaments from an event, place or person. She and Steve put up Albert’s ornaments. Her hand shook slightly as she looked as her lost son’s handsome face. Copious tears ran down her cheeks.  How she missed the boy.

Then, branch by branch, the ornaments filled up the giant Scotch Pine.

Their Christmas was a scrapbook of their life together. Branches were chapters and ornaments were pages. Each represented a special time or place.

Steve and Judy held hands and admired their work when they finished. To them, it was more than just a Christmas tree. It represented their amazing life together.

It was their family tree.