Christmas Tree, USA

Welcome to the Coleman home. This was the first Victorian built in Christmas Tree, and for a short time, was also the largest house in town. Hiram and Anne Coleman raised a large family here, and the home has always been owned by a Coleman, handed down through the generations. During the Christmas season, you're liable to find the Colemans caroling at the hospital, the old folks home and to anyone who will turn on their porch light and open the front door to them.

The Colemans are very civic-minded people. The careers favored through the years are medicine, the law and teaching. Every now and again, a Coleman will run for office - the School Board, for example, and the current mayor of Christmas Tree is Cecelia Coleman Winters, following in both her father's and grandfather's footprints - much to the delight of her father. There's an enterprising crop of  Colemans coming of age - Cole Winters, son of the mayor, who has his eye on the State Senate; Daphne Coleman who will become the first neurosurgeon in the family; Cassidy Coleman who is >< to becoming a full fledged FBI agent; and Harris Coleman, set to become the youngest principal ever at Christmas Tree High.

If you're in the neighborhood, Candy Cane Road, to be exact, stop on by for some holiday cheer. And don't forget to bring your singing voice, because there will definitely be Christmas carols along with the hot chocolate and Christmas cookies.

Christmas Tree, USA

Ah, the Lewis family. John and Mary Grace Lewis started their married life in this house, it having been built by Mary Grace's father, the Reverend Thomas Jefferson Keller, as a wedding gift when the couple married in 1889. This scene is very reminiscent of their view during their first Christmas together. John's grandfather, George, had brought his family to Christmas Tree, USA back in the 1850's, and they were one of the very first families to settle there. The Kellers came not long afterwards and various family members had danced around each other for a couple generations, with nothing coming of the passing fancies until John and Mary Grace clapped eyes on each other in the one room school house when they were both seven and were inseparable from then on. Mary Grace Keller Lewis knew her mind and she often spoke what was on it, regardless of the consequences. She was both loved and feared for that very reason, but a finer seamstress, cook, wife, mother and friend you couldn't find. When she died during the flu epidemic in 1917, at the tender age of 46, John was never the same again. And when he got word in early 1918 that his youngest son had been killed in Europe, at the even more tender age of 21, it nearly killed him. His surviving children - 2 sons and a daughter - buoyed him, with daughter Gracie devoting most of her adult life to caring for him, until he finally gave into the sorrow, and quietly passed in his sleep at the age of 66. Gracie married Andrew Winters the year after his death, which surprised and astounded the entire town, as at the age of 39, she was considered a spinster. A widower, Andrew was raising a son and daughter, and the year following their marriage, Gracie gave birth to her only biological child, Peter. The current mayor of Christmas Tree, USA, is   Gracie's daughter-in-law. She and Peter married in 1963 and added three children to existing brood of Gracie's grandchildren, bringing the grand total up to 11. Peter and Cecelia now live in this house that had been built for his grandparents. 

Christmas Tree, USA

On this fine wintery night, Chad and Melissa Taylor share dinner with their 2 young children, Mindy and Mark. The house was built around the turn of the 20th century, after the original Taylor home, built by Chad's several times great-grandfather at the founding of the town. This cozy cottage  is the first home you'll see if you drive over to what the citizens of Christmas Tree humorously call the Taylor Compound. Several homes are nestled back in the trees. A close family, the Taylors are down to just two branches now, down from seven.

You'll find kids playing in the trees, snow forts built and defended, entire snowfamilies line the fences. The coffee is always hot, and there's always a cookie to be found, along with good company, good cheer and many hugs freely given.

Christmas Tree, USA

Christmas Tree, USA

Many years have passed since this picture, and in place of the old-time car and the horse-drawn sleigh, you're more liable to see SUV's, hybrids, Smart cars, Mini Coopers, kids on scooters and skateboards...Unless you see the matriarch of the Taylor family, Eleanor Pearl Houseman Taylor out and about, still running herself around town in the black Model T she and her husband, Walter Taylor, purchased shortly after their marriage in 1931. Be sure to keep out a sharp eye for her, because her sight isn't what it used to be and she's always been rather fond of driving down the exact middle of the street. At 98 years old, Mrs. Taylor is only a couple months younger than the oldest Christmas Tree, USA citizen. That honor belongs to Arthur Keller. Mr. Keller, more popularly known as 'Cap,' thanks to the rank he held in the United States Army during the Second World War, can always be found walking the sidewalks after the first snow, wearing nothing more than a light pullover cardigan over well-pressed slacks. "Bastogne," he says when chided about needing to bundle up against the cold, "Now that was cold. Don't figure I've been that cold since." But he'll let you buy him a cup of coffee at the diner on the corner of Evergreen Avenue and Holly Berry Way now and again, and thank you earnestly for your kindness to an old man.

In a long-standing town tradition, Cap Keller and Mrs. Taylor are given the honor of lighting the Christmas tree in the town square. Yes, Christmas Tree, USA still has a town square, and it's a source of pride for all its citizens. The Christmas Tree Lighting happens the first Saturday in December and is a big festival event with hot chocolate booths, fudge and candy carts, a craft fair and a large bonfire for everyone to gather around. After the tree is light, Christmas carols are sung, and indeed, sung as folks trudge back to their cars and homes.

Music to accompany today's post, brought to you by Mr. Frank Sinatra: I'll Be Home For Christmas, Jingle Bells, White Christmas, The Christmas Song, and O Little Town of Bethlehem.

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At Christmas, all roads lead home.  

~Marjorie Holmes~

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Old-Fashioned Christmas

This is my favoritest (yes, that's a word - because I said so, that's why) evah Christmas Carol, and I'm suspecting that Josh Groban is one of my favoritest covers of it. Check it out HERE. It's terrific background music for today's post. Here are some more musical choices, Christmas, of course: O Come All Ye Faithful. What Child is This? Little Drummer Boy. Ave Maria. I'll Be Home for Christmas. White Christmas. 


I found some old-fashioned images, looking for some inspiration for this post, and found these. Got me to thinking about creating a Christmas town, what it would be called, who would live there, what sorts of things would they do...So, I thought it would be fun from now until Christmas, to play with this make-believe town, add to it, tell stories about the occupants...Here goes. 

Welcome to the town of Christmas Tree, USA, population 16,396. I haven't decided which state it's in, but I'm thinkin' it's probably somewhere in New England. Winter arrives almost on schedule after Thanksgiving, covering the town with a light layer of snow by the end of the first week of December. The citizens of Christmas Tree always have a White Christmas. Founded in the early 19th Century, descendants of the original founding families still live there: the Taylor family, the Lewis Family, the Coleman Family, the Butler Family, and the Keller Family...Of course, there are many other families, not just these five. The main street of town is Evergreen Avenue, with other major streets being Holly Berry Way, Candy Cane Road, and North Star Blvd. The mayor is Cecelia Coleman Winters, a woman many think resemble Mrs. Claus, but it would be a mistake to believe Mrs. Winters is a typical little old lady grandma type. Oh, yes, she's a force to be reckoned with. And speaking of forces, Police Chief Joe Keller runs a tight police department - you couldn't live in a safer, nicer town. Just ask the Butler boys what happened when Chief Keller busted them painting graffiti on the brick walls at the park!


That's it for today...Join me tomorrow to find out more about Christmas Tree, USA...We'll be visiting this lovely town until Christmas. 



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Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.  

~Norman Vincent Peale~