A Laurel and Hardy Christmas in Front of the Fire

We moved to Helena, Montana from Carlisle, Pennsylvania when I was just four years old.  My east-coast mother, was fascinated by her idea of what the wild, wild west was.  After she purchased her first pair of pointed cowboy boots, she insisted that my father install a wood burning stove in the corner of our kitchen.  We began to ride horses and wear cowboy hats, mine was red with white trim, and all I remember is that it was too big and was constantly falling over my eyes.  But I would not take it off.  I was a cowgirl now.

A week before Christmas, my father brought home the Christmas tree, a very large pine that he intended to set up in the living room.  Before my father got home, my mother and I were sitting in the warmth of the stove, sipping hot chocolate and watching an old Laurel and Hardy film.  We heard a commotion, and as we headed into the kitchen to find out what it was, we saw my father dragging a nine foot tree through the kitchen door.  I knew my father was frustrated, so I climbed on the back of the couch, and continued watching the movie.

As it turned out, my father had to saw off three feet of the tree in the middle of the kitchen, and while we decorated the tree, we threw the smaller pine branches into the fire, and while they cracked and popped because they were not fully dried, the scent in the air was the scent of Christmas.  I have a modern style home these days, with a cast iron stove in the kitchen, and each year my daughter and I burn pine, watch Laurel and Hardy movies, and drink hot chocolate while we decorate the tree.  It is a small Christmas tradition, shared by just two people, but that is what the holidays are all about.  Small things, that make the whole…just a little bit better.

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