The DU Lounge

We always had a live Christmas tree; however, my father who was an architect, always found that they needed fine tuning. We put up our tree on December 23rd after it had been temporarily installed in the garage with plumb lines running down from the rafters so that the branches were trimmed to create the ideal cone shape. Bare spots? No problem! My dad would cut branches from the bottom of the tree, drill a hole in the trunk where he wanted to eliminate the bare spot and wood glue the branch into the new location. I grew quite impatient waiting for the glue to dry. After the tree was fully decorated, my father and family members visiting for Christmas would make very potent homemade eggnog. The grand finale of Christmas Eve was when my mother wanted the fully decorated tree moved to a new location. At this point, a volunteer, albeit quite tipsy, work crew would attempt to oblige. I should point out that my mother was a non drinker so I never understood why she made this request year after year. It took many years before I understood that Christmas trees were not meant to be horizontal. I had the best childhood ever.