Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree How Ugly Were Your Branches

As I was going through some pictures, I came across a picture of our silver Christmas tree we had as children. My father had a wheel the turned it's silver branches to red, blue and green. Every year like clock work the Friday after Christmas was for putting up that beloved tree. The silver tree that I would never put up in my home as an adult.

Our white cat named snowball spent 4 weeks of crazy being swatted by my mother nightly for getting in the tree. I still hear her voice yelling through the night and the swat of a fly swatter crinkling through those silver branches.

It was an ugly tree but it was our tree, decorated with blue balls every year that I can remember. Some of the decorations were things we made in school but never the less that silver tree lived longer then any pine tree in the woods. I really can't remember when we actually got rid of that thing. Maybe after the color wore off the end of the branches to tell you where to put each branch.

I would give any thing to be that little girl again and decorate that ugly tree. We were care free and had no worries but my parents never let us know how hard they really had it until after we were grown.

On Christmas Eve we rode around looking at everyone's lights. That was our ah ha moment for the Christmas season and then home to open one gift before going to bed.

I will never forget how I felt so excited that Santa was coming. I don't think we slept at all but I could never understand how he got in the house when we had no chimney. My mom would always tell us he came through the door. As innocent children we swore, my sister and I, that we heard hooves on the roof top of reindeer and Santa laughing. The cookies and milk we left out for him were gone the next day with a thank you note from Santa.

My mind has forgotten so much as I have aged that I don't even remember any Christmas dinner. It was always a ride to everyone's house that we knew to see what they got for Christmas. It really made no sense to me now, why we were not allowed to just stay home and play with our own toys.

If you remember anything about growing up in the 60's is the Coca Cola commercials. Christmas time was a very memorable time for the glass balls on the tree and the Christmas Coca Cola bottles. We were more of a kool aide family but when we went to other peoples houses they had soda and that was a special treat to us.

The first time I drank egg nog, it was love at first sip. Even today I buy egg nog because it is so good. Another goodie that we had during the Christmas season was a bowl of nuts and my favorite were Brazil nuts. I would bug my father to death to open them for me because I could not get that sweet Brazil nut meat out of that shell even with the picks.

Today the public is packed with so many different types of cookies but our favorite was toll house cookies. I remember trying to get a large spoon to make my cookie bigger.

Our stockings were hung on the wall with care and the contents inside was oranges, life savers and foil covered Santa's. There was no mini MP3 player or any other electronic gifts that kids get today.

We were happy to just have that special day that we had waited for all year long. Santa had come and brought us nice baby dolls, Barbie's and my all time favorite my easy bake oven. We used it one time and never made anything else but it was just the point I got what I asked for.

In the early 1960's Leon Hess, founder of our company, wanted to provide a fun, high quality and affordable toy for families during the holiday season. The first Hess Toy Truck, introduced in 1964, was a tanker that could be filled with water and emptied through its delivery hose. At a retail price of $1.29, including batteries, the truck was a great value and became an instant success. His creative genius and attention to detail made the Hess Toy Truck an exciting holiday tradition and a collector's item for boys and girls of all ages.

Today, over forty years later, the Hess Toy Truck still maintains the original commitment to quality, detail and value. Models have included fire engines, helicopters, a police car, an airplane and even a space shuttle. Each year the truck is introduced with our distinctive holiday television commercial “The Hess Truck's back, and it's better than ever!” — and, more recently, with the Hess Toy Truck Float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The Hess Toy Truck has become a lasting family tradition that extends across generations.

I can clearly remember asking for them because my father pumped gas at the Hess station when we were little and I did not care that it was supposed to be a boys toy all I wanted was a Hess truck for Christmas.

In a few days it will be Christmas all over again. A new year coming upon us and so many memories when I was a child. I would give anything to go back to that time and fight with my sister because all the presents were mine. Of course she was bad so Santa could not possible leave presents for her. Ah how children are taught then and how they are taught now is so different.

As the holiday season approaches, I wish each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope that this season is about family and not about the greed it has become. Rushing around for that one last gift, that one last card to mail, that one more string of lights to put up and that one big dinner you will cook to leave you exhausted.

Oh Christmas Tree, you ugly Christmas Tree how lovely were your branches.

Some memories I have shared of my childhood may have made you smile also. We always had a White Christmas then. Hopefully you had an ugly tree also to make you remember what Christmas then was all about.

May the season be happy and prosperous to you and yours.