A Smith Gallery - "Trees" Photography Contest

trees: forest, sapling, oak, timber, woods, leaves, seedling, topiary, thicket, park, trunk, branches, family, grove, pine, foliage….

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“On November 23^rd, 1967, Delbert Spinner looked at his wife over the morning breakfast table. The yellow of his eggs congealing on his cold plate.

“I’m not going to do it,” he said.

“Not going to do what?” asked his wife.

“Buy a Christmas tree. I’m a carpenter, I’m gonna build one.”

“You’re going to build one.”

“Yep, tired of spending the money. I have a shed full of scrap lumber. Some of it the same species as Christmas trees. Fir, pine, even smells like a Christmas tree.”

“Really, that’s ridiculous. How are you going to create the branches, the needles?”

“Don’t know yet….”

The Spinner Christmas Tree Company took up the front half of a twenty-thousand square foot building. The neighbors were upset when it moved into the neighborhood with all the racket made by the various milling machines. However, they grew fond of the operation over time. The aroma of Christmas wafting through the neighborhood all year. They found themselves throwing parties and giving gifts all year round. Two new local bakeries opened. The entire Smith family had to buy new undergarments, swimming suits, and trousers.

Margaret Spinner, the youngest child of the Spinner’s, is credited with the success of the company. Delbert struggled for two holiday seasons with how to create the branches and needles. Margaret, then seven years old, solved the problem. It involved paper mache, glue, flour, alkyd house paint, wire, an Easy-Bake Oven, and a proprietary ingredient.

Margaret grew up to be a successful artist and environmental activist. She is rumored to have smoked pot with Willie Nelson on the roof of the White House. She lives in a treehouse, in an undisclosed location, built of scraps from The Spinner Christmas Tree Company. She never married….” From “Trees: Tales of Memory and Invention” By Franklin Cincinnatus