A Walk in the Garden with Bob Hill
As the leaves begin to fall, and we close in on the Turkey Day festivities with Christmas lurking just down the calendar, the belief that the latter comes but once a year can come with some necessary qualifications.
Sure, Christmas is generally celebrated on Dec 24th/25th with all appropriate religious ceremony, eggnog with eggs, milk, cream, spices and rum, and, oh yeah, the red-suited chimney sweep leaving his reindeer on the roof.
Sure, Christmas is generally celebrated on Dec 24th/25th with all appropriate religious ceremony, eggnog with eggs, milk, cream, spices and rum, and, oh yeah, the red-suited chimney sweep leaving his reindeer on the roof.
But why not put all that yearlong giving of thanks on the same tree. Make it work for all four seasons. It can be done. We have a small, very well decorated, artificial tree we leave up every day of the year. Sitting right there under our big television mounted on the barn boarded wall in our Rock City room.
Sure, for about 55 years we had been doing the regular, pre-Christmas decorating thing, hauling home a once live conifer, propping it up, and smothering it in lights, bulbs and ornaments. But in many of those recent years, the kids and spouses couldn’t make it home to seal the holiday deal.
We just put up the smaller, heavily decorated artificial tree and never took it down. Christmas now lives here every day of the year — as in 24/7/52/365. Co-mingling, in a way, with Easter, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving.
So, we just put up the smaller, heavily decorated artificial tree and never took it down. Christmas now lives here every day of the year — as in 24/7/52/365. Co-mingling, in a way, with Easter, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving.
But that overriding Christmas feeling dates to our finest and most precious of keepsakes, a couple old glass ornaments we bought when first married more than 62 years ago and residing in a $75-a-month apartment in Houston, Texas, living on love and peanut butter sandwiches. Why should they be carefully put away in a box to be stored in a closet for 50 weeks a year? They are the way we were. Those brittle glass treasures will be passed down to our kids, but will they ever understand their full meaning?
Speaking of which, up there on the tree is a cloth star Janet made 57 years ago, just before Jennifer was born, a cotton time capsule. Moving around the tree, you’ll find some of the old paper ornaments the kids made in grade school to be hung on the tree with the flimsiest of paper clips, one of the ornaments a very fat Santa Claus. Hanging nearby is a faded yellow cloth star Robb made about the same time.
But wasn’t that just yesterday.
Moving ahead while looking back, there’s another very dated cloth ornament made by Stacy Dieterlen, our nephew’s wife, and artist. It offers a very old picture of Janet and her brother, “Dude,” as very young kids pretending to smoke cigarettes back on the farm. You had to be there.
The old ornaments, the cloth pieces, the cutouts and crocheted pieces offer so much more Christmas spirit and nostalgia than anything you will find at Rural King, Dillard’s or even Oxmoor Center. Why do we keep putting all that back in boxes come January?
The old ornaments, the cloth pieces, the cutouts and crocheted pieces offer so much more Christmas spirit and nostalgia than anything you will find at Rural King, Dillard’s or even Oxmoor Center. Why do we keep putting all that back in boxes come January?
You want family connections. Our year-round tree is blessed with cloth pieces from the practiced hands of Janet’s Aunt Helen, a lady so given to old-school neat and tidy that one day when an ambulance was called to her house for a possible health emergency, she insisted on washing all the dirty dishes before accepting a ride to the hospital.
There’s a lot of that in Janet Hill, too. Where are you going to find that kind of family history on a Hallmark card?
Add up the hanging memories. There’s contemporary Delftware collected on wonderful trips to the Netherlands, visiting old buildings and gardens. There’s a large ornament we bought on a trip to Scotland, a hanging memory more easily affirmed than going through the old slides every few years, and a lot less trouble.
Janet’s mom, Mable Smith, made Jennifer an ornament for her first birthday. It’s hanging right there on the tree — and long after Mable left us. Janet Hill has many ornaments gifted here from co-workers who spent years with her as an elementary school aide and no-nonsense-accepted cafeteria enforcer.
Janet’s mom, Mable Smith, made Jennifer an ornament for her first birthday. It’s hanging right there on the tree — and long after Mable left us. Janet Hill has many ornaments gifted here from co-workers who spent years with her as an elementary school aide and no-nonsense-accepted cafeteria enforcer.
Twenty years later, she can still tell stories of each gift, the classroom and teacher that provided it, and the students, some of them now lawyers, teachers and business professionals. All of that hanging right there in front of us, every day, from Memorial Day to New Year’s Eve.
Robb Hill, who lives near Washington, D.C., and often photographs its politics, comes through every year with a Christmas present from our nation’s capital. That includes several hanging miniatures of the White House, the nearby trains, the many familiar landmarks nicely packaged in special boxes. Love touring the city — not so crazy about all its occupants.
To be sure, there are days, even weeks, when we don’t study our Christmas tree. We get too caught up in televised news; what’s going on in Washington is too often shown on the television just above the tree. We also watch “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy,” baseball, football — and can basketball be far behind? We have yet to see the final season of “Ted Lasso,” a show with a few occasional, much-needed support services.
To be sure, there are days, even weeks, when we don’t study our Christmas tree. We get too caught up in televised news; what’s going on in Washington is too often shown on the television just above the tree. We also watch “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy,” baseball, football — and can basketball be far behind? We have yet to see the final season of “Ted Lasso,” a show with a few occasional, much-needed support services.
But I do my best to keep up with our Christmas tree memories, the many garden-related ornaments hung on it. Most are gifts from Janet that blend in so nicely with all those from family, friends and neighbors.
Way around the back of the tree is a stocking that was once stuffed with Christmas quarters. Only one quarter remains. It gets examined and put back in the sock. A frugal sign of the times.
Way down to the bottom is a carefully crafted angel, a past Christmas present, which might be the key to the entire process. All of us need an angel. Every day of the year. •
Former Courier-Journal columnist Bob Hill enjoys gardening, good fun, good friends and the life he and his wife, Janet have built.
Story and Photo by Bob Hill
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