Kevin’s Christmas Tree

Karen was so excited to be going to Grandma’s for Christmas. She hadn’t seen Poppy and Grammy since she was nine years old and now that she was 14 she would have fun exploring the riverbanks on her own. Not that she minded being with Poppy and Granny, she didn’t mind at all, but it was just that they were not able to explore as much as she would have liked. Poppy always got too tired and Grammy would make us turn back.

Karen was disappointed about the snowfall that night. How was she going to explore the riverbanks now? After breakfast she slipped on her boots and overcoat, grabbed her hat and gloves and went outside. The mountain side was pretty with glistening brightness as she walked along. It was much harder to walk now with the snow but she was determined to make it to the river and so she trudged on stopping only a few times to make snowballs to throw at the trees.

Several hours past and Karen started getting cold and hungry and was contemplating turning back home when she heard something in the woods toward the top of a hill. As she got closer she saw a boy standing there waving for her to come up. He had been sledding and wanted her to join in the fun. “Plenty of room on here for both of us” he exclaimed with excitement. So Karen boarded the sled and held on tight from behind.

“By the way, my name is Kevin and I wanna show you something.”

“I’m Karen and I’m glad to meet you Kevin.”

The two slid down the hill toward the river and came to a stop right in front of a beautiful lit Christmas tree. So full of ornaments and lights you would not fit anymore.

“Wow! How in the world did you do all this?”

“Oh a little at a time, every year my mom and dad add another ornament.” Kevin replied.

Karen and Kevin sledded down the hill a few more times laughing and having so much fun till it started getting dark. Karen said her goodbyes and promised to come back the next day to play. When she got home she told her Grammy and Poppy all about Kevin and the Christmas tree and all the fun they had. But her grandparents just sat and stared at her with mouths open. It was a few minutes before either of them could speak.

“My dear Karen, now let us tell you a story that happened a long time ago when we were just kids ourselves. It was Christmas Eve and Poppy and I and a few other kids from across the mountain side were having fun sledding down the south side of that hill over by the river. One of the boys decided to try going down the other side of the hill and his sled went right into the river and the poor boy froze to death and drown. His parents were so distraught and on Christmas Eve too. So they decorated a Christmas tree right there were the boy drown and every year they added a new ornament to it. But my dear Karen, there is no electric out there in the woods so I don’t know how the lights could have been lit. And poor Kevin has been dead for over 60 years now…

It was terrible, and on Christmas Eve none the less.”