Charlie Brown Trees

We're an equal opportunity Christmas tree putter-upper-family. In the past when we were broker than the ten commandments, we cut down loblolly and buttermilk pines and placed them in the corner of our trailer. They were  little Charlie Brown trees, but they served us well.
Later, when I got a job that paid something other than Cracker Jacks,  we built our new house and started the tradition of buying trees we could plant after New Years.  We've had Christmas trees that were white pine, cedar, spruce, cypress, and hemlock. The first white pine we planted in the front yard twenty seven years ago is well over forty feet tall now.
We planted a hemlock tree by our front walk about ten years ago and for some reason, it hasn't grown much. So we decided to start decorating it each year at Christmas.
Today, when I strung the lights and plugged those babies up, only about half the lights came on. I know, I should have tested them before stringing, but I didn't.  So, I pulled up a chair and had resigned myself to checking each bulb.
As it turns out, the third bulb I tested was blown and when I replaced it, the strand sprang to life. Sometimes you get lucky.
Our niece Samantha spent a great deal of time with us before she started to kindergarten.  Each year, in addition to our regular tree, we did her a small Charlie Brown tree. She made many of the decorations herself, and it was an event we looked forward to each year.
She outgrew the tradition, but we enjoyed it while it lasted. She's in college now and has a two year old child of her own now. She called today and asked if we still had the stuff to decorate a Charlie Brown tree. She wants us to do one with her for her son Jordan. I smiled as Jilda relayed the conversation.
We've spent a lot of time and energy with our nieces and nephews. We'd like to think we've had a positive impact on their lives, but sometimes it's hard to know for sure.
I think it's a good sign that our niece wants to do a Charlie Brown tree for her child. Maybe he'll think of the experience when he's older, and remember it as fondly as we do.