Tree Farm

“…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well…May that be truly said of all of us…” - about the changed Ebenezer Scrooge, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Mr. Clark and I went to get our Christmas tree today, and were devastated to find the best Christmas tree source EVER is no longer selling trees. For twenty years we’ve made the short trek to Glass Tree Farm to find and cut the tree of our dreams - for only $20. (Actually, when we first started making the trip, the trees were only $15.)

This would be a great deal (and great experience) for anyone, but since our old house has big rooms with 13-foot ceilings, the opportunity to get a tree that will fill our space suitably – for only $20 – was an annual Christmas miracle. And, we came to depend on it and love it.

The first year we got our tree at Glass Tree Farm the kids were little – in the third and fourth grades – and, we were celebrating the first Christmas in our “new” house – the one we had worked so hard to renovate (and bring back to life from a fire) for the past year. We still hadn’t gotten used to how big our rooms were and how high our ceilings are, and our little family was very excited about the prospect of finding the perfect, really big tree.

Someone had told us about this great tree farm just outside of town, so we piled into the old Volvo wagon we had at the time (a 1970 version named Mr. Brown because of his character and color) and headed for a Christmas victory. Glass Tree Farm did not disappoint. We found the biggest, most spectacularly tall and round Cypress tree on the place, cut it down, tied it to the top of Mr. Brown, forked over our $15, and headed home, not believing our good fortune.

As is often the case with Christmas trees, when we got it inside, it looked a lot bigger than it had out in Mr. Glass’ field. Never mind, though! We put that huge tree up, decorated it with loving fervor, and enjoyed the heck out of it on through early February, even though it nearly filled a fourth of our really big dining room. (It seemed like a shame to take such a huge, beautiful tree down just because Christmas was over…)

The next year we went back to Glass Tree Farm, and the year after that, and the year after that…Several of our Christmas card photos were taken there, kids in Santa hats, festive family picking out a tree…Pretty soon, the little kids on the Christmas cards became gangly middle schoolers, still willing to sport a Christmas hat at the tree farm because, by this time that annual trip had become a well-loved family tradition…A few more years and the awkward middle schoolers on the Christmas card were replaced by attractive teenagers, willing at this point to don a festive holiday scarf or a pair of red tennis shoes, in a nod to holiday tradition…Once the kids went to college, it was Mr. Clark and I doing the Christmas tree shuffle alone, but we did it no less joyfully, because we knew the sight of that really big, really beautiful, really affordable tree would light up our kids’ faces, the minute they got home…

At some point along the way, pretty recently it seems, Mr. Glass raised his price from $15 to $20 – for any tree in his fields. We couldn’t believe it took him so long to make that $5 move, and we were more than glad to pay the “extra” as the trees we cut on his land continued to be the most spectacular beautiful Christmas trees “ever!” as the kids said every year, with every tree being “even better” than the last.

If you get your Christmas tree from the same man for 20 years (and it is as big of a deal as it was for our family) you get to know the tree farmer a little bit. We found out that Mr. Glass got into the business to “make a little extra money” to pay for his kids’ college; and, once the kids’ college was paid for, he liked selling Christmas trees enough to keep going...until, well, this year.

I don’t know why Mr. Glass decided not to sell any more trees. He’d been saying he was thinking about getting out of the business for several years now, which was understandable, given how long ago his kids graduated from college, and how much time it must’ve taken to tend to and clip all those trees into proper Christmas tree shape each year…But, we really were sad, when we drove up to his farm today, and there was no sign of Christmas tree sales, anywhere in sight.

So, thank you, Mr. Glass, for making so many of our holidays so merry and bright. Your wonderfully huge trees and incredibly affordable pricing have allowed our family to enjoy bigger and more spectacular Christmas trees than we could ever imagine, year after year; and, for that we are profoundly thankful. You gave us a lot of good memories and great Christmas card pictures, and for that, we most sincerely thank you, too.

Leftovers

Mr. Clark and I just finished the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers, but we are by no means done being thankful. A year ago, Mr. Clark was out of work during the holidays. In fact, his period of unemployment lasted 14 months, and things got pretty bleak there towards the end.

Thankfully, Mr. Clark is now employed, so this year our holidays are, once again, looking merry and bright. That is probably not so for all of the people in our nation, in our state and in our county who have been laid off or downsized, and are still looking for work.

The unemployment rate in Georgia right now is 10.2-percent – one of the higher in the nation. Barrow County is even worse off, with an 11.1-percent unemployment rate. According to the economic forecasters, Georgia is predicted to remain in a severe unemployment recession and continue to lose jobs through 2010.

What does this mean? It means a lot of folks are hurting out there, and the holidays tend to be a time when their pain is more intensely felt. Skim any article about any charity organization, and you will read that the need for help continues to rise, while donations continue to fall. Churches have also been hit pretty hard, as needs increase and contributions decrease.

The obvious thing to do, if you and yours remain blessed with employment, the means to pay the bills, and have a little left over at the end of the month, is to donate – donate whatever you can - to the charity or church of your choice. Local churches do a lot of good work not only this time of year, but all year long. And, the Barrow County Cooperative Benevolence Ministries (BCCBM) runs the local food bank, and helps those in need in our community in many other ways.

Another thing you could do is simply help out someone you know who is out of work and struggling right now.

Last Christmas some friends Mr. Clark and I usually exchange only cards with gave us a $100 Walmart gift card. It was tucked inside their usual Christmas card, with the amount not written on it. I was expecting maybe $25 or so, which, times being what they were, would’ve made us profoundly thankful. When the cashier told me the card was worth $100 tears welled up in my eyes.

$100 might not seem like a lot when times are good, but when times are tough, and there is no hope in sight, $100 feels like a fortune.

Not knowing how bad things would get, or how long we could hold out without Mr. Clark’s income, I clipped that Walmart gift card to the calendar - to save it for an even rainier day. And, for several months the sight of that gift card made me feel a little better, a little safer, a little more optimistic and thankful, every time I walked by. It felt like we had a little insurance policy which was ours to use, when times got really bad…

Mr. Clark found some contract work early in the year, so we never had to use the gift card for food, pet food or medicine; we had those things barely covered. We ended up using it to buy two new tires, in the spring, when the rains began to hit hard. One of our cars, the one we use all the time, had really bald tires on the front, and, based on the amount of hydro-planing already happening, we were at risk for a serious accident.

Using that gift card for tires felt like a big decision. Would the contract work last until Mr. Clark found real work? Would we end up regretting the tires, because we needed food?

My point is, people who are accustomed to toting their own load – and donating to church or charity – aren’t good at asking for help. It never occurred to Mr. Clark and me to go to the food bank or ask a church for money. We’ve always been able to take care of ourselves…There are others in greater need…We don’t need to ask for charity…

I’m all for donating to the food bank and giving generously at church. I’m also profoundly aware that there are people out there struggling in silence, who would really appreciate the kind of emotional and financial insurance a gift card can bring.

Contact the BCCBM at 770-867-3925 to donate food. Tax deductible donations can be sent to the Barrow County Food Pantry, PO Box 547, Winder, or any charity of your choice.