A Christmas Tree Made of Park Sticks: Adiba Nelson's Holiday Story
In the Arizona Storytellers series, Adiba Nelson recounts how a mother's improvised twig tree in Queens came to look, years later, like a $200 store display.
By Juan Gonzalez ·
As part of the Arizona Storytellers series, Adiba Nelson shared a holiday story about growing up poor in Queens, New York, and the homemade Christmas tree that took years to appreciate. KJZZ produces the series with the Arizona Republic, recording live events and airing them on the radio. Storytellers speak about their community or the events that shaped their lives.
Nelson opened by saying that Christmas in New York is magical only for those who aren't poor, and that the holidays are what people make of them. When Nelson was 3, their mother explained that there was no money for presents that year. She was still determined to make the day feel special.
A year or so later the family had its own place but still could not afford what Nelson called a real Christmas. Their mother offered a choice: a tree or presents, but not both. As an only child, Nelson held out for both. Their mother walked away from the conversation.
Soon after, she invited Nelson to the park, Nelson's favorite in New York City. Nelson pictured snow play, a snowman, sledding and time on the tire swings. Instead, their mother began pointing at twigs, sticks and fallen branches and telling Nelson to pick them up. Nelson did not know why, but did it anyway, and dragged the bundle home "like we're about to build a winter house for Big Bird."
Not an outdoorsy person, Nelson dropped the branches in the middle of the living room, put on headphones and retreated to a bedroom. When their mother called them back out, she presented the result: the family's Christmas tree. She had spray-painted the branches white and added lights, ornaments, red velvet bows and candy canes. Nelson, a self-described brat at the time, rejected it as a "murder tree" and returned to the bedroom.
Years later, Nelson was an adult with a 3-year-old and no money for presents or a tree, the same situation their mother had faced. Nelson turned to the community for help. The family was chosen through an adopt-a-family program and received both a tree and gifts that year.
That experience changed how Nelson saw the twig tree. Their mother had been trying to make the magic happen, doing whatever she could so her child would have something for Christmas. Now a parent, Nelson said that is what parents do, whether the occasion is Christmas or "a random Tuesday in July."
Nelson no longer needs to be adopted by a family at the holidays and can buy gifts and trees for their daughter. On one shopping trip to Pottery Barn, Nelson went looking for a new tree and spotted a vase in the corner holding white branches, lights and ornaments. A sign in front called it a "decorative Christmas tree," and the price was $200.
Nelson ended the story by conceding the point to their mother: it really was a Christmas tree all along.
Source: KJZZ
