I miss the Living Christmas Tree
I am sure that anyone who is on my FB page remembers "The Living Christmas Tree" from Memorial Baptist Church. You were a "Tree" person or you went to see it. I have been in such a grumpy mood this Christmas, because finances are tight and things. I have been in this situation before when I was single, but what made it bearable was singing on the "Living Christmas Tree", giving joy to others to help them have a Merry Christmas.
We would start practicing on the second Sunday in September in the afternoons. We did every type of music, from Handels Messiah to songs like"Mary Did You Know". I know quite a bit of Christmas music. I sang on the tree from 1988 to 2000. How I got to sing on the "Tree" was Mrs. Edith Dickerson was a friend of someone who was going to church at Memorial at the time and they invited her to sing on the "Tree". Mrs. Dickerson didn't want to sing on it by herself so she asked me and Sharon to sing on it with her. This was in 1987, I had my hands full... I was moving into my house and I was taking some classes so I couldn't do it. Sharon did it and when I went to see it, I just knew the next year I had to be a part of it. By us being kind of tall we usually were in the fifth or sixth row. It was two hours of being on your feet, so you wore pants usually and tennis shoes or a skirt and tennis shoes or slippers. I usually wore tennis shoes, because I needed the support. You would shift from putting your weight from one leg to the other. You had to have cough drops, because at times your throat would get dry. I got sick on the "Tree" once and had to get off. At the time I was working too hard and didn't get proper rest.
One year I actually helped decorate the "Tree" It was fun and a lot of hard work. I loved the music; I also loved giving people a sense of community and sharing the love of Jesus Christ. I was single for most of that time and Christmas would have been a pretty lonely time, but doing the "Tree" was an outlet. I met one of my dearest friends singing on the "Tree". Betty Sneed, we knew some of the same people and we begin to talk. Later she invited me to church to the singles ministry they had at the time...
As with so many things new people come in and they don't really see the need for certain things so they don't do it anymore. Things change, but don't you miss "The Living Christmas Tree?"
We would start practicing on the second Sunday in September in the afternoons. We did every type of music, from Handels Messiah to songs like"Mary Did You Know". I know quite a bit of Christmas music. I sang on the tree from 1988 to 2000. How I got to sing on the "Tree" was Mrs. Edith Dickerson was a friend of someone who was going to church at Memorial at the time and they invited her to sing on the "Tree". Mrs. Dickerson didn't want to sing on it by herself so she asked me and Sharon to sing on it with her. This was in 1987, I had my hands full... I was moving into my house and I was taking some classes so I couldn't do it. Sharon did it and when I went to see it, I just knew the next year I had to be a part of it. By us being kind of tall we usually were in the fifth or sixth row. It was two hours of being on your feet, so you wore pants usually and tennis shoes or a skirt and tennis shoes or slippers. I usually wore tennis shoes, because I needed the support. You would shift from putting your weight from one leg to the other. You had to have cough drops, because at times your throat would get dry. I got sick on the "Tree" once and had to get off. At the time I was working too hard and didn't get proper rest.
One year I actually helped decorate the "Tree" It was fun and a lot of hard work. I loved the music; I also loved giving people a sense of community and sharing the love of Jesus Christ. I was single for most of that time and Christmas would have been a pretty lonely time, but doing the "Tree" was an outlet. I met one of my dearest friends singing on the "Tree". Betty Sneed, we knew some of the same people and we begin to talk. Later she invited me to church to the singles ministry they had at the time...
As with so many things new people come in and they don't really see the need for certain things so they don't do it anymore. Things change, but don't you miss "The Living Christmas Tree?"
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