Cars with Christmas Trees

I was brought up the youngest in a large family. Suddenly everyone was out of the house, blockbusting severely ravaged our close-knit neighborhood and my mother, who was sick for years, died of cancer. All this when I was 15. On my 17th birthday I enlisted in the Navy and though my orders which would have likely sent me to Viet Nam were rescinded, I was already a casualty from all the drastic changes of those past few years. When I got married and started having kids my four year old commented one day how he loved seeing cars with Christmas trees on the roof during the holidays and the happiness it implied. When I saw a Rockwell illustration from the '50's of a happy New England family speeding by with a car full of happy kids and a tree on the roof it soothed the sting of a long ago ache. For the past twelve years I'd buy an extra tree and attach it to the roof of our van for the two weeks leading up to Christmas. Perhaps some kids would joyously take note...perhaps even an adult or two. —Mike Lennon