Wednesday, December 16, 2009

My Favorite Christmas Memory

I was 6 years old. I was in first grade. My teacher was Mrs. Ritchie. She was a great teacher, and she used her fingers to erase the chalk board. We loved that about her.
She told us that if we got a tree for our classroom, we could flock it. I wasn't sure what flocking meant but it sounded fabulous to me. After this conversation about flocking the tree I was left with the impression that the kids in my class and I were in charge of getting the tree. Could she have possibly put this responsibility on 6 and 7 year olds? There's no telling now, but at the time, I felt like it was detrimental for us kids to get us a tree for our classroom.
That night I told my dad that we needed a tree for our classroom. I couldn't tell if he heard me or not. I seem to remember a lot going on at that instant. I moved on to much more important things like making sure my mom knew what I wanted for Christmas, and making sure she wasn't putting onions in the dinner. (I love onions now, by the way.)
A few days later while we worked quietly in the classroom there was a knock at the door. When the door was opened there was a Christmas tree and three big burly men dress in snowmobile gear standing there. Two of the men pushed their way through the door with the tree and the third pulled off his helmet as he walked toward the teacher. IT WAS MY DAD! My heart swelled. I was so surprised. The whole class was. He asked her where she wanted the tree and while it was being set up I walked over to my dad and he scooped me up.
I said,"I didn't know you were going to bring a tree."
He said, "Well, you told me you needed one."
"I didn't know you were listening."
We smiled. I totally felt like my dad was a hero who saved the day. It was a big beautiful tree.
And Mrs. Ritchie kept her promise. We flocked the tree and it was a big, stinky mess. I did not enjoy it, or the way it looked and smelled after. But I LOVED that tree.

13 comments:

Sandy said...

Oh Julie, that brought tears to my eyes. But, you do have a wonderful father.

Jeanna said...

I love when dad's are heroes! Beautiful.

Meg said...

I love that story.

Jen said...

Great story Julie... your dad was "Santa" that day!

Holley said...

Daddy's are the best! My Dad is a HERO too!

Kathy said...

That is a great memory!

Becky said...

I didn't know he did that! That is so cool. Someone should make sure dad gets to read that. Maybe you could print it off and give it to him for Christmas. He would be SO happy to know he was a hero!

Although he has been a dad hero many times, he should hear about it!

Anonymous said...

That totally brought tears to my eyes. I LOVE, love, LOVE, your family!!

Jules said...

I too am crying after reading that beautiful story. What an incredible Dad.

Meesa said...

I'm crying too. What a sweet Dad. You were the coolest kids at school that day!!

Sandy said...

I don't have a blog, but remember when Dad was cutting Christmas trees in West Yellowstone for the scout fund raiser. There was one tree left and the Alger's didn't have one yet. So we took that one. It was too big for the house so Dad cut the top off and moved it into the house and it went from floor to sealing. It looked like the tree was growing through the roof. That is one of my memories.

Amy E. said...

I love this story and I'm so glad you shared it with us!

Jen said...

Gosh, that was the greatest Christmas story.

What a great lesson to all of us as parents....