Enough Christmas 2

We didn't have a Christmas tree when I was little, but when we elementary school-aged, Aunt Fern gave us a used silver tinsel tree.  Single aunts provide you with things your mother can't afford.  I think it must have been a quite straggly, forlorn thing. It folded up in a box, and each year, you stuck all the silver fringy branches into it. But we loved that tree the first few years, carefully placed in the sunroom where it wouldn't topple over. It wasn't long until we noticed that most kids had green trees or even live trees they went out and cut together. I remember feeling a little embarrassed for our family who didn't seem to know how things were. Over the years, we had both artificial and real green trees. I think it was in high school, at the beginning of my save-the-earth years, when I convinced the family to buy a potted tree to use at Christmas and plant in the yard after. It grew quite large and lived for a long time. I do wonder how we kept it alive (and where?) until spring. Probably in Dad's shop where he had to add tree watering to his daily farm chores.  Despite the simple or nonexistent trappings, Mom and Dad provided rich celebrations and family time at Christmas.