Starr Family Folklore

Starr Family Folklore, from my brother John, confirmed by my dad:  "My memory may be faulty, but before you were born Mom bought a Christmas Tree once and only once. I think Peter was 4 and I was 1. Grandpa saw it and refused to come in the house. I believe Dad had to literally drag the 'Hanukkah Bush' outside to the trash." 

The only shanda here is that John didn't embellish this story more, and that I wasn't alive to see this incident as it unfolded in our first house, high atop the little town of Beverly Hills.  The young and impressible SJG would've loved a Giving Tree that gave more than apples and branches.  An old and wise SJG is a harsh judge of such blatant commercialism.  Even so, how fun would it be to find a pretty tanenbaum all lit up in my living room!  That's right, I said it. 

When we moved to Westwood, plenty temple-going families on the block went through a brief Xmas tree phase in the early '70s, not that they'd admit it now.  Maybe they were being ironic?  John and I got swept up in the mania, and fashioned a Hanukkah Bush out of a ficus tree, hanging handmade foil decorations on every leaf.  Every day, we checked for gifts, but the bush brought forth bupkis.  So we returned to our beloved annual ritual -- checking every closet and drawer in the house till we found where Mom had hidden our presents.  If there's a tradition lovelier than that, let's hear it. (12-20-10)