This is going to be my last Christmas story for this year, but it is kind of long so I'll break it in half and post the second part tomorrow. I hope you enjoy it, but even if you think it's lame, that's ok. I wrote this story for myself, and for dad. He tried to teach me this principle for years, and I'm still trying to learn it.
Symmetrical Christmas Trees
By Gale Ashcroft
Santa sent out 10 exclusive invitations the week before Christmas. Not just anybody got invited to this special pre-Christmas party, just the most deserving citizens. The recipients came together that night with high expectations and not a little self pride.
The first thing they saw when they entered the festively decorated hall were ten perfect Christmas trees. Each tree was labeled, so the guests knew immediately where they belonged. When they were sitting next to their own trees, Santa stood up and began.
“Welcome, welcome to this special Christmas Party. I am so glad you were able to come tonight. I have invited you here because you are each wonderful, deserving people, and I wanted to personally give you your Christmas presents.”
The guests preened themselves a little and smiled, waiting expectantly for Santa to continue.
“Trisha Brandyhoff, would you like to go first?” Santa asked as he opened his sack.
Trisha smiled and stood. She was a trim, thirty-something young woman dressed in a well fitting holiday pants-suit that showed off her toned body to perfection. Santa opened his bag and removed a brightly wrapped package. Handing it to Trisha he said, “Go ahead and open it, dear. Everyone wants to see.” So Trisha happily tore the paper from her gift. Inside she found a lovely platinum Christmas ornament, dangling from a shiny silver thread. It was pointed on both ends, with a long, sleek, slightly rounded middle.
“Very elegant!” the other guests murmured, realizing immediately that this ornament fitted Trisha perfectly. She held it up, admired it, but also turning quizzical eyes towards Santa. I mean, an ornament was nice, but was that all?
Santa understood without her even asking. “Look at it closer,” he advised.
Trisha held up the ornament again and suddenly gasped. Writing had appeared around its gracefully formed mid-section. It said, “Your gift this year will be the ability to obtain a physically perfect body.”
“Oh, my,” Trisha beamed. “Thank you, Santa.”
“You’re welcome, dear,” Santa said. “Go ahead and hang your ornament on your tree.”
Trisha carefully hung her gift on the highest bough of her Christmas tree, but when she removed her hand the ornament pulled the branch down until the tree was almost doubled over. Quickly Trisha removed the ornament. “I guess it’s heavier than I thought,” she giggled. Carefully she hung it on a thicker, lower branch, but again it pulled the branch down towards the ground, bending the tree with it.
“Wow,” Trisha said as she removed the ornament again. “This thing must be solid platinum. I guess I’ll have to hang it down here at the bottom,” and she slid the silver thread around the largest branch. Amazingly, it was still too heavy. Although it didn’t bend the whole tree over, it pulled that branch down at such a sharp angle the ornament slid right off and rolled to the floor.
“What should I do, Santa,” Trisha wailed? My ornament is too heavy to hang on my tree.”
Santa smiled kindly and reached into his pack again. “Your problem is balance,” he said. Your gift can hang on the top of the tree as long as you have another one on the other side to balance it out.”
He handed Trisha a matching ornament, but she didn’t look convinced. “They will both be too heavy,” she worried.
“It will work,” Santa assured her. “You hang your ornament on your side, and I’ll hang this other one at the same time on the other side. You’ll see.”
So at the same moment they both hung their ornaments on Trisha’s tree, and sure enough, the equal weight on both sides held the tree upright and perfect. Everyone sighed with relief. It would have been terrible if Trisha’s present had been a dud.
“So what does your other gift have written on it?” Sam, a short, bald man asked.
“I don’t know,” Trisha answered in surprise. She had been so concerned about getting the ornaments on the tree that she hadn’t noticed writing on the second one. Walking around to that side of her tree she looked closer at her second gift. “You will have the gift of reading bedtime stories to your daughter every night,” she slowly read.
Trisha turned and looked at Santa. “But I can’t do that,” she exclaimed in dismay. The only chance I have to go to the gym is in the evening. My husband puts Elizabeth
Santa smiled and carefully reached into the tree. “I’m sorry, Trisha. If you don’t want this gift I’ll take it off. Tonight is about making you happy. You deserve it.” And he grasped the second ornament and slipped it off the branch. Immediately the tree doubled over, the first ornament pulling its branch toward the floor.
“Stop, stop,” cried Trisha. “You’re going to break my tree.” Quickly she reached in and picked up her ornament, looking at Santa in despair. “What good is getting a present if it ruins everything,” she demanded?
“Not much,” Santa commiserated. “But you’ve got to have balance if you don’t want your tree to break.”
Trisha looked hard at Santa for a little while. She had a feeling he was trying to tell her something, and she wasn’t very happy with what she thought it was. Finally she shrugged her shoulders and said, “You win, Santa. I guess I get it. Go ahead and hang your ornament and I’ll hang mine.” Once again they worked together, placing both ornaments on the tree at the same time. It looked even prettier than it had before.
“And now for Charlie Wood,” Santa smiled. Charlie beamed. He was a big fellow, recently retired, a good, steady man. There was nothing really remarkable about Charlie, but everyone liked him. You felt secure around Charlie, like he would be able to take care of things if there was a problem; a big, strong, reliable sort of guy.
“So, Charlie, Merry Christmas,” Santa said as he pulled out a brightly wrapped present from his Christmas bag. “Go ahead and open it so everyone can see.”
Charlie took the present from Santa and looked around at everyone. “You want me to open it?” he joked as he held the gift high.
“Open it, open it,” the other guests yelled.
After a few more teasing moments, Charlie grabbed the wrapping paper and tore it from his gift, then held it up for everyone to see. It was a Christmas star to hang on his tree, old fashioned and very heavy. It looked like something a blacksmith would have made years ago, back in the early days of our country, and it was exactly something Charlie would love. He was really into history and the founding fathers and Americana
“I know you love everything to do with America
“I do, I do,” Charlie said, holding the ornament high. “It’s great!”
“Good,” Santa said. “Before you hang it on your tree, you might want to read what is engraved on the iron.”
Charlie exclaimed peered closer at his gift and discovered there was writing all along the sides of his star. His lips moved as he read silently, but the rest of the party wanted to know what it said, too, so he started over again. “Your gift this year is to be able to make a difference in your country.” Charlie looked up with happiness. “All right!” he exclaimed. “Thank you, Santa. That is exactly what I want to be able to do!”
“I know,” Santa smiled quietly. He did know. Since retiring Charlie had finally had time to spend learning the issues and becoming informed. He listened to talk shows, read the newspaper, and watched news programs with avid interest, becoming more and more involved the more he learned. It broke his heart that politics had moved so far from their original state back at the beginning of our country, and the more he heard the angrier he got with the current administration and the direction they were taking the country. The coming year would be an election year, and Charlie immediately realized his gift meant he was going to have a chance to be involved. It thrilled him.
“Go ahead and hang your ornament on your Christmas tree, Charlie,” Santa encouraged, so Charlie hung the star on a high bow, but it was too heavy and the whole tree bent over. “What the….” Charlie exclaimed as he grabbed the star and slid it off the branch. “I guess I’d better try a different place.”
But wherever Charlie put it, the star pulled the tree off center. The heavy metal overbalanced whatever branch he put it on.
“I can help,” Santa suggested, when Charlie had tried every which way he could think of and looked ready to give up. Reaching inside his bag he pulled out an identical iron star and handed it to Charlie. “This should make the difference.”
Charlie took the star and looked at it. There was writing etched on it, too, and he read, “You will have the gift of playing with your grandchildren this year, and you will get to teach them all the old games they can’t learn by watching TV.”
“But,” Charlie began, looking from the star to Santa and back again. “I thought my gift was being involved in politics this year. I won’t have time to spend playing if I’m going to be able to make a difference. This second star must be fore next year, right?”
Santa smiled. “Can you hang just one star on your tree,” he asked?
“I’m trying,” Charlie grumbled, but even after another couple of attempts he had to admit defeat. “Ok, show me how to do this,” he demanded.
Santa took the second star from Charlie and stood on the opposite side of the tree. “You hang your star and I’ll hang this one at the same time. Let’s see if we can get them to balance out.”
Carefully, Charlie placed his star on the Christmas tree and Santa hung his, and the tree stood straight and tall. Everyone clapped, and Charlie sat down with a thoughtful look on his face.
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