I love everything about Christmas trees. The lights and ornaments fill a room with holiday cheer and just like people, no two trees are ever alike.

That said, my long history with Christmas trees has had moments when the fa la la wasn’t so merry, but when I look back at those times that were not very funny, all I do now when I tell these stories is laugh!

One of these tales is from back in the day when we put tinsel on the tree, one strand at a time, which to an impatient young boy like me was an act of drudgery. That wasn’t the worst of it. Come time to take the tree down, off came the tinsel one strand at a time to be carefully looped backed into a cardboard sleeve so it could be used again the next year. All that work for something that costs about 49 cents a pack.

I read somewhere that Bright Star, the leading manufacturer of tinsel had made enough of the stuff to reach the moon and back! Then in the 1960s, lead-based tinsel was discontinued because of the risk of lead poisoning.

There was another time when I was a child and we bought an artificial tree. It came with a pole and separate branches that were color-coded at the ends to match the colors of the slots in the pole. Of course, it was my job to put it together, but there was a problem. I’m color blind. When the tree was finished, my mother took one look and said, “And I thought Charley Brown’s tree was ugly.”

If you live near woods, you might have a Christmas tree graveyard where you drag them each year to their final resting place. The graveyard actually benefits animals for forage and cover. I know of someone who tagged each dead tree by the year. I kiddingly replied, “Why don’t you erect markers? They might say, ‘Here lies Douglas fir. November 26, 2008-January 2, 2009. A Christmas tree that stood fresh in the test of time.’ How about, ‘Here lies Balsam Billy. December 6 2011-December 26, 2011. He dried too fast and had lived to Christmas past.’”

I just might be giving somebody who’s reading this column a cool idea!

The hunt for the perfect tree is a great family experience until the arguments begin about which tree to get. For me, the best times were visiting tree farms and walking through all the rows of pines. Cutting down our own tree was a treat, except for the sap I got on my hands that was so hard to wash off.

Then it comes to straighten the tree in the stand. I’ve made the mistake of cutting those down that have a curved trunk at the bottom or getting a tree that has a soft trunk to where the holding bolts go nearly through to the other side. I do artificial now, but there is something about a real tree that brings the tradition of Christmas into a home that provides memories like no others.

As I mentioned before, I’ve had some “unforgettably forgetful” events with Christmas trees that are all stories that now I hold dear in my heart this time of the year. Here are a few of those personal anecdotes written to the tune of the appropriate Christmas carol.

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!

Why do you bring such calamity?

The lights were strung. The bells had rung.

“Put the star on top,” said a smiling Pop.

With star in hand, I obeyed his command.

I set the chair and took my stand.

Reached up with might, I took great fright.

And leaned too far to place the star.

Pop watched and shrieked and then he freaked!

The tree did fall. Down came me and all!

With bright décor and lights no more

Our Merry Christmas lay on the floor.

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

Why do you bring such calamity?

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

Why do you bring such calamity?

To the field we go in rain and snow.

Happy are we to cut the tree.

A beauty we had; wait, don’t be glad!

We put up the tree and this was bad.

Now on the tree oh did we see.

Spiders, oh! On lights aglow!

To the field go we to find another tree

And bring it home to call our very own.

Now on this tree I look and see

Spiders abound run round and round

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

Why do you bring such calamity?

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

Why do you bring such calamity?

Invite some friends to a Christmas party.

There stood my tree not looking hearty.

Looped a candy cane; needles fell like rain.

The tree was bare; the needles everywhere.

Under here and under there.

And vacuum clean til no needles seen.

Come the summer season, a needle sticks in my toe.

And all I can say is, “Ho! Ho! Ho!”

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

Why do you bring such calamity?

Rich Strack can be reached at richiesadie11@gmail.com