Liz Larin | Journal

A Christmas Story - (this is a true story...)
December 19th, 2004

I know this is now a matter of public record now, so I would like to pass this story on to you, as I am inspired by this holiday season.

There was man whose neighbors were upset because he had nailed a large evergreen to the front peak of his house. The tree of course died and the man refused to take the tree down. Finally the neighbors were so upset by what they considered to be an ugly site that notified the police, who gave him a ticket and he was forced to appear in court.

When the judge asked the man why he wouldn’t just take the dead tree off the front of his house, the man had a sad story to tell. He said his wife had left him many years ago ago and had taken the children. He said that he had lost touch with his children and didn’t know where they were now. He said that God told him that if he out a christmas tree high up on his house that his children would see the christmas tree and be able to find him.

Most of the people in the court room at the time thought the man was a little nuts. But luckily for the man, the judge was a wise man. The judged worked out a plan with the man that seemed to satisfy all parties involved. He told that man that he could have his tree on the roof but that he had to build a special planter on the roof so that the man could have a live tree on the roof, and he gave the man a date in which he would have to have the work completed. The completion date happen to land on the man’s birthday.

The man went to great trouble and expense to work with builders to build a beautiful planter on the roof, working quickly. He bought an evergreen tree, which in planted in the planter, and covered it with lights and decorations. The day the work was to be done, the man showed up in court in the afternoon. This time he brought the judge a note. It seems that earlier in the day the man found a letter on his door from his oldest son. It was a happy birthday note in which the son indicated that he would like to celebrate his father’s birthday and asked the father if they could hook up soon to spend some time together.

Another one of life’s mysteries....