Man Celebrates 40 Christmases With the Same Tree

Neil Olson put up a Christmas tree when two of his sons went off to war in 1974, vowing not to take it down until all six children returned to his Wisconsin home for Christmas. The same tree, he says, is still standing in his living room.

Olson's oldest son was injured in the Vietnam War, and his disability has stopped him from returning to Wausau from Washington state for Christmas. So the tree has stayed up, still covered in the same ornaments, tinsel and lights as the day Olson decorated it. And the needles, though yellowing, are still there.

"The needles are kept on for a reason," Olson, 89, told the Wausau Daily Herald ( http://mnhne.ws/1JRQnKL ) for a story published Wednesday. "It's supernatural, I say."

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"I bet you if my sixth boy comes home, the needles will drop right off," he said.