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I stopped by the Wabash Depot to drop off Steve's rent check for the nonprofit antique booth and saw some old wax ornaments on the counter. They looked just like the ones that was on our tree at home in the 1950s. I didn't want those ornaments, don't need more junk (unless it's scrapbook stuff!), but it was neat to see them and remember those sweet trees.
Daddy always sold Christmas trees. There were some tiny ones (about 2-3 feet tall) that were already nailed to a stand for apartments or small houses. I always wanted one of those. But Daddy picked the biggest one that would fit in our house for us. It was almsot always short needled, although we had flocked ones a couple of times.
It was a cold and miserable job selling them. I was too young to help with that, but I remember my Mom, Dad and brother going out to the lot with a customer to help them pick a tree -- a difficult task since the trees were so cold, it was hard to see what shape they actually were.
One of my favorite things was that when we finally closed the store on Christmas Eve, Daddy just left the lot unlocked so that if anyone happened by who still needed a Christmas tree they could just take one. Anything that was left would be burned on the 26th, so he figured he may as well share what was left.
