When I hear the song “O Christmas Tree”, I am reminded of the Christmas trees of my childhood.

Perhaps a picture best illustrates the point.

This is my brother and me posing in front of our family Christmas tree in 1955 – probably our last Christmas spent in Montana before moving to New Mexico.

And yes, it’s a real tree. Covered with lots and lots and lots of tinsel. It’s impossible to see the lights and ornaments underneath all that tinsel but at night the red lights and shiny red ball ornaments were beautiful.

You see, my Dad was very particular about the tinsel. And as I recall, “tinsel-decorating-training” began at around age 6 or 7 – several strands draped very carefully, one branch at a time.

I wonder how many boxes of tinsel are on that tree??

The end result was always spectacular. And the lyrics so fitting . . .

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!
Such pleasure do you bring me!

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“Snowflakes in tinsel” featured image is from www.canstockphoto.com.

A few years ago, I came up with an idea for holiday cards that I think is a little different.

Well, actually, I can’t take full credit for the idea – because it came to me while scanning several beautiful Christmas cards that were created by my grandmother’s cousin.

Here’s an example of one of the cards – front, inside and back.

The artist, Aaron Schenck, was born June 14, 1923, in Neihart, Montana. I never knew Aaron personally but I’ve heard family members speak of these Christmas cards quite fondly.

When Aaron died in 2007, Michael Jamison of the Missoulian wrote a beautiful piece about him. I was certainly not surprised to learn that he was an art teacher. And interestingly, the article states he served with the ski troops in Italy during World War II – which explains the image and notation on the back the card. Jamison wrote that Aaron was also a “sketcher . . . of favorite old houses” and “a keeper of family and history”.¹

Well, I’m certainly not an artist – but I loved the idea of sending a card that tells a family story.

So I decided to take an old family photo and create a fun holiday card to send to family and friends. Here’s an example of the card I sent in 2015.

It’s fun and easy to create these cards. And there are enough photos on both sides of my family to supply with me with ideas for years to come!

So . . . my original point in creating this post was to share a “clever” idea I had for creating holiday cards with family history in mind.

But as it turned out, I now find myself feeling a little disappointed for not having known Aaron – and incredibly grateful to have come across the article written by Michael Jamison.

One thing, and then another.

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