O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
Thy leaves are so unchanging
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
Thy leaves are so unchanging
Not only green when summer's here
But also when it's cold and drear
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
Thy leaves are so unchanging
"You want to tell me again how we ended up climbing a mountain to look for a Christmas tree? " Andy huffed. He was trudging through snow over a foot deep at a tree farm set on the side of a mountain with a saw in one hand.
Sharon took his free hand and squeezed it. "Because, Clark Griswold, you wanted us to have a fun family vacation."
"I'm not sure what part of this is fun. My toes are numb."
"I told you to use the toe warmers we bought to put in the kids boots but what did you say? Andy? What was it?"
Andy narrowed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "I said I'd be fine."
"Yes you did."
"Where are the kids anyway?" Andy scanned the side of the mountain but all he saw were evergreen trees as far as the eye could see.
"Emily, Nicole, Dean and the boys went that way to look at the Balsams and Ricky and Rusty went down there to check out the Fraser's and we're looking at the Blue Spruce."
"Isn't a Christmas tree just a Christmas tree?"
"Oh no, no, no. Each type of pine has very distinct characteristics. Balsam firs smell the best, Fraser firs are the strongest and Blue Spruce are the prettiest, at least in my opinion. In southern California the most popular is the Douglas fir, that's usually what we get. Didn't you ever go to any tree farms?"
"I grew up in Brooklyn, sweetheart, not too many Christmas tree farms around there. We got our tree from a seller on a corner lot. It was the same guy every year. He used to come down from Nova Scotia to sell his trees. Once I was in California, well, the closest cut your own Christmas tree farm is like two hours from LA."
"An hour and half."
"And you know that because?"
"Because that's where I brought my kids to get our tree when they were growing up. I mean it's Christmas, you have to have a sense of occasion."
Andy grinned. "I have one now. When Nicole was little we used to go this place in Valencia that had pre-cut trees. After the divorce I kept getting a tree and putting it up in my house for Nic. I never got visitation with her on Christmas Day, but I usually had her the day after and sometimes even during the day on Christmas Eve so I did my best to celebrate the holiday when I had her. Then one Christmas she called and said her mother wanted her to spend the whole holiday with her family. That's how she put it, her family. As if I wasn't her family anymore." Anger and pain radiated from Andy.
"You didn't fight it?" Sharon stopped walking and looked up at him, eyes filled with sympathy. It had begun to snow again and little flakes caught on her eyelashes.
"Course I did. I called Sandra and told her she couldn't keep me from my daughter. But she said it was what Nicole wanted. They were going to visit her husband Larry's family in Mexico and Nicole really wanted to go. She said I'd be ruining her Christmas if I "forced" her to stay behind just so I could have my visitation days. So, I let her go. And then they started going every year and there wasn't much reason to put up a tree anymore. Christmas is a time for family and I didn't have one anymore."
"Oh, Andy." Sharon swallowed hard past the lump in her throat.
"Aw, don't cry Sharon. I didn't mean to make you sad." He wiped away the tear that trailed down her cheek with his gloved thumb. "I was sad for a lot of years. Sad and angry. And I made some pretty bad choices because of it. But I'm not that person anymore and I'm not sad or angry anymore. Now I have you and your kids and Nicole is back in my life. I have a family again and I'm happier now than I've ever been, so don't cry, okay?
She nodded but her heart still hurt for him. For all the years he'd been shut out of Nicole's life and for how lonely he'd been. There were two sides to every story and she knew he'd brought some of his pain on himself, but there were times she would love to give Andy's ex-wife a big piece of her mind. Sandra had no idea how lucky she was her child's father wanted so desperately to be a part of her life. She could only wish her own ex-husband had even a smidgen of the desire to spend time with Emily and Ricky that Andy had with Nicole.
"Mom," Ricky called out from somewhere to the right. "Rusty and I found one."
"Okay, we'll be right over. How tall is it? You know your grandmother said 10 feet is the max for the living room."
"This one will be fine."
Ricky and Rusty continued to call out so Sharon and Andy could find them and when they did Sharon shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"That tree has to be close to 15 feet tall." Then she chuckled.
"What?" Ricky asked.
"I just told Andy he was like Clark Griswold and then you show me this tree. You want to put out Gran and Grandpa O' Dwyer's windows out like they did in Christmas Vacation?"
"Oh Mom, it isn't THAT big."
"Russell Thomas Beck, look at this." She showed him the long grooved wooden stick they'd given her at the barn where they'd gotten the saw. "This stick is 10 feet tall."
"You got a RULER. On my God Mom. Could you be anymore anal?"
Andy chuckled watching Sharon handle her boys.
"Yes, I got a ruler. We cannot have a tree higher than 10 feet or the angel won't fit on top." Sharon set the stick in the snow. The tree rose several feet higher than the stick. She smirked at the boys.
"Let's keep looking."
After another hour trudging through the snow they finally all agreed on a 9 foot Balsam fir.
"Okay, now we've got a tree we have to figure out how cut this sucker down," Andy said. He wasn't relishing the idea of lying in the snow to saw down the tree. Using a shovel Ricky had gotten at the barn-the kid was an old pro at this kind of stuff-they shoveled out enough snow that two people could lie on either side of the tree and use the two- handed saw.
They took turns, Andy and Dean and Ricky and Rusty so they didn't have to lie for too long in the snow and get their jeans soaked. At least that's the excuse Sharon gave when the men went all cavemen and said THEY would cut the tree down. The women were smart enough not to argue and thus they stayed dry and warm. But the truth was Sharon didn't want Andy exerting himself too much and aggravating the pinched nerve in his neck again. However, she needed to convey that in a way that she wouldn't be accused of babying him. Her tendency to be overprotective once he'd left the hospital had been a sore spot between them for a couple months and she really was trying to let go of her fears. It wasn't easy. There were nights when she closed her eyes and she could see Andy crumpling to the floor, his hand over his chest. Even worse, the look of sheer terror in his eyes when she'd touched his cheek and called his name. He thought he was going to die, and so had she, and he might be over it, but she wasn't. Not by a long shot.
Laying on the ground working at the saw, Andy's wool vest and sweater rose baring the skin of his lower back and snow began working its way into the back of his pants. Why the hell had he offered to help cut this damn tree down? Oh yeah, to show Sharon he was still the same guy he'd been before he'd been stupid enough to jump on a moving vehicle and ended up with a blood clot that was still creating health issues for him.
Finally Dean agreed they had enough cut and he shoved at the tree calling "Timberrrr…." as it fell. When Andy sat up, his face and hair were covered in wet pine needles. Sharon couldn't contain the giggle that rose in her chest. And once she started laughing, everyone joined in.
"Well, I'm glad you all find this amusing," Andy grumbled. "Next year we go to a tree lot." But then his eyes caught Sharon's and she saw the twinkle of amusement as he turned to Tyler and Scott.
"So you boys think this is funny?"
They nodded.
"Really funny?"
"Really funny," they agreed.
Andy looked at Dean and then the two men each grabbed a boy and pulled them down to wrestle in the snow much to their shrieking delight.
Proving that they were no shrinking violets, and against the objecting males in the family, Emily and Nicole took control of pulling the heavy tree along through the snow to the main trail where they were met by a man and two Bernese Mountain Dogs. The dogs were hooked to the tree and easily pulled it back to the side of one of the barns where men were netting the trees and piling them up.
"If you're staying a while we can just put a tag on your tree with your name and you can pick it up when you leave."
"That would be great," Sharon said. "We wanted to look around the barn."
"And we want some s'mores and kettle corn," the boys told him.
"All right, tag it it is."
Once the tree had been tagged, they went inside the first barn. Sipping hot chocolate they meandered around the different stalls filled with a variety of crafts, most of them Christmas oriented. A young woman sat in the corner of the barn next to a big pot bellied woodstove playing Christmas carols on a violin. At the moment it was "What Child is This", one of Sharon's favorites. Though as her kids were fond of saying, they were all her favorites, she just loved Christmas music.
"What are you buying?" Andy asked when he found her at the cash register.
"Just a new ornament for the tree."
He looked down and grinned. "Another angel? Don't you think you have enough of those?"
Ricky, Emily and Rusty looked up from their own purchases with raised brows. "You can never have too many angels," they responded in unison, then burst into laughter at their combined response.
"Ahh…my children, I've trained you well." Sharon beamed at the three of them.
Andy shook his head in amusement. "Did you want to check out the other barn?" he asked.
"Might as well, we're here."
The second barn was filled with the woodsy scent of balsam firs from the many hanging Christmas wreaths, kissing balls, sachets and door draft stoppers.
"Do you think we should get my parents a wreath?" Sharon asked Andy while critically assessing a large wreath with a big red and green plaid bow. Though they were still in New Hampshire they were on their way to Connecticut. Sharon had told her parents they would bring the Christmas tree with them. Her parents were still healthy and active but now that they were reaching their mid eighties they were quite pleased with not to have to go out and get their own tree.
"Why don't you call them and see if they have one yet?"
"If I know my mother, I'm sure they do. But I guess it doesn't hurt to ask." Sharon pulled out her phone. "Besides, they'll be happy to know we're on our way." She hit the number for her parents and gave Andy a funny look. "What are you up to?" Her eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"Me?" He shrugged with exaggerated innocence. "What could I be up to?"
"I don't know, but you have that look on your face."
"What look? I don't have a look."
"Andy, trust me. You have a look." She reached out to pick a few more pine needles from his hair when her mother answered her call and she became absorbed in the conversation. After a few minutes on the phone she slipped it back into her coat pocket.
"They have a wreath," she said and had just turned to place the one she'd picked back on its hook when Andy twisted her back around in his arms.
"What are you doing?" She asked on a little gasp. He gave her a mischievous look and she followed his raised eyes to the sprig of greenery he held over her head.
"Mistletoe," he said. "You have to kiss me."
Her lips gave a sexy little quirk. "You don't need mistletoe to make me kiss you," she said just as Andy's lips covered hers.
"Are you guys kissing AGAIN?" Tyler complained as he and Scott came around the corner. The boys had already caught their step-grandfather and his girlfriend smooching on a bench outside while waiting for their hot chocolate.
"Kissing is yucky." Scott wrinkled his nose.
Andy laughed and tweaked that nose." One day you won't think kissing is so yucky. Especially if you find a girl as pretty as Sharon."
"Girls are yucky."
Sharon gave them a little pout of mock sadness. "You think I'm yucky?"
"Not you," Tyler assured her. "We LIKE you."
"Oh thank God, you boys had me worried for a minute."
The boys grinned at her and then Tyler took her hand and began tugging at her. "Mom and Dad said we had to wait for you and Papa Andy to make s'mores. Can you come now?"
Sharon gave Andy a little shrug as Scott grabbed his hand and began tugging him along too. "Looks like it's time to go Papa Andy," she said.
To the left of the barns small firepits dotted the landscape. Around them people stood warming their hands and toasting marshmallows to make their s'mores. Not far from the edge of the parking lot a woman was stirring a giant black kettle popping the kettle corn they were selling in a small shack next to where she made it.
While making their s'mores they watched big draft horses pulling wagonloads of people over the trails that wound their way through the tree farm. Tyler and Scott wanted to go for a ride but because they'd already had a horse drawn sleigh ride and Andy and Sharon really wanted to reach Connecticut before suppertime they didn't stand in line for a ride. They did however purchase big bags of maple flavored kettle corn before picking up their tree and hitting road south to Connecticut.
The stop at the tree farm had not only broken up the 5 hour drive, it had tired the boys out enough that they had both fell asleep by the time they reached the Massachusetts border.
TBC