My Own Poseidon Adventure

Charles Minnegrode introduced the custom of decorating trees in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1842.
By 1850, the Christmas tree had become fashionable in the eastern states. Until this time, it had been considered a quaint foreign custom.

Mark Carr brought trees from the Catskills to the streets of New York in 1851, and opened the first retail Christmas tree lot in the United States.

Franklin Pierce was the first president to introduce the Christmas tree to the White House in 1856 for a group of Washington Sunday School children. The first national Christmas Tree was lighted in the year 1923 on the White House lawn by President Calvin Coolidge.

Over the course of the past week I have decorated three separate Christmas Trees. I believe there is nothing quite as festive as trimming the tree to get one in the holiday mood. Two of the three trees were artificial, but one came right from the lot, freshly cut and full of that wonderful smell that fills the house with the fragrance of pine.

Like people, each tree has its own unique personality, even year to year with the same decorations, each tree takes on a look of it’s own. Some years I must admit..perhaps more effort was spent on design and overall look, but somehow they all looked good in the end as Christmas trees just do.

The third and last of the trees I decorated was my own tree. Although a lot more effort and time, having a real tree is still my preference. This years search went remarkably well. My final choice was the second tree I looked at. It was the right size, a good shape, and although tempted to keep looking, I finally realized..hey I like this one...and so I went with it.

Getting it home, and getting it set up...again easy. I have had trees in the past that were lopsided, not cut straight, or that had really low branches that made it hard to access for water, etc. But this tree was good in all those respects, and in no time it was up and ready to decorate. It is a noble fir, and the lights and decorations went on very easily. I used practically every ornament I had and after the application of the glass garland, the tree ( in my humble opinion) was truly practically perfect. I even went so far as to say aloud "I should take a picture of this tree". Less than a minute after that while sitting looking upon this beautiful reminder of the holiday season that I watched it slowly fall forward onto the ground, fully decorated, lights on and I felt much like Shelley Winters and Jack Albertson as a member of the S.S. Poseidon.

Like the movie, water went everywhere, for I had filled the tree stand to the very top. As far as I can figure, the tree was so fresh that when the water filled up the stand, the bolts going into the tree slipped out of place, and the tree fell forward out of the stand onto the carpet. I sat still completely horrified and unable to react. It was only the rushing sound of the water pouring onto the carpet that I sprang into action.

The tree was wrestled back into the stand, the bolts tightened completely into the tree. Amazingly, I only lost one ornament. But the tree was a wreck. I still haven’t mustered up the will to fix it, now 4 days later, but I will. I hope that the 4th tree that I decorate this year will turnout like the others.