The Imperfect Christmas Tree
Nestled among the redwoods, pines, and firs of the Santa Cruz Mountains is a very special Christmas tree farm. Families come from far and wide to select the perfect trees for their Christmas celebration.
Among those so perfect stands a special one – short and crooked, skinny and bent, not stately, not graceful, not perfect like the rest. The other trees whispered hurtful names in the wind, and the little tree hung its head in shame.
But, one cold winter day, a young boy passed over the other trees to their dismay, and stopped to admire the sad little tree. He stared at its bent trunk, its jagged bark, and its crippled limbs, not unlike the boy’s own crippled limbs.
He begged his father to cut the little tree, but instead, the father handed him the saw. He stood silent, beginning to cry and dropping the saw in the snow. He hugged the little tree with all his might until his mother picked him up and pinched a small branch from the little tree, barely big enough to hold the gold star she had gifted him at birth.
As the years passed, the young boy returned to hug the imperfect tree and pinch off a branch just big enough to hold his star, then he brought his own young son, and they hugged the little tree and pinched off branches to hold their stars. Decades of sons and grandsons have hugged this imperfect tree and pinched off branches to hold their stars.