The First Tree - Chapter 5

The Display
Mrs. Claus’s Christmas tree displays were legendary throughout the North Pole. She, herself, described them as exquisite and elegant. For as long as Santa or any elf could remember, Mrs. Claus had always decorated her tree in the same exacting manner. The word "decorated" was a misnomer and completely inadequate when describing the meticulous placement of each handcrafted decoration that graced the branches.
These were not ordinary decorations. Each one was as important as the next. Hand-carved reindeer ornaments, ranging in color from a deep amber to near ebony, carved from the tangled and twisted root of the remote and rare Da Cielo tree. The largest of which, standing nearly nine inches tall, were eight noble adult reindeer, in full harness and bell, each in near perfect likeness of one from Santa’s lead sleigh team. The remaining thirty four were smaller, ranging in size from three to seven inches, each representing a member of one of the eight adult reindeer’s families.
The single reindeer ornament that Mrs. Claus always kept near to help her choose the first tree of Christmas was one of these thirty four. It was the carving of a small deer, slight in stature, a right foreleg twisted and disfigured, the head raised sublimely, looking upward. It represented Prancer’s youngest daughter. Born unlike the others, she walked unevenly, hobbled with her deformity, and was never expected to fly. But there was a sparkle in her eye and sweetness to her spirit that had instantly and completely captured the heart of Mrs. Claus. Soon after the bantam reindeer was born, she and Mrs. Claus had become inseparable friends. She now went, by way of the ornament, with Mrs. Claus every year to choose the first tree.
The reindeer ornaments themselves had once been a gift. Years earlier when both Santa and Mrs. Claus were much younger and when Christmas was a more subdued affair for Santa and the elves, he set upon making a special gift for Mrs. Claus’s then not-so-perfect "perfect tree." He sent a group of his most diligent elves on a trip to a remote corner of the forest surrounding the North Pole. There, where the wind howled, the snow piled into mountainous drifts and the forest dwindled, grew the lonely Da Cielo tree.
The elves diligently uprooted and lashed eight of these trees together and dragged them back to the rear of the workshop. Santa had then spent every waking hour for the next four months either in the back of the workshop carefully and secretly cutting and sculpting the wood or out in the stables keenly examining the subjects of his project. Finally, all forty reindeer were finished and presented to Mrs. Claus as a gift from everyone at the North Pole. It had been an emotional Christmas that nobody had forgotten.
The reindeer immediately became the centerpiece for her Christmas tree display. As the years passed she had continued to add accents to complement them. These came in the form of rich, hand-tied bows in the shade of ripe holly berries which were pressed crisply to form evenly matched circles. The bows were secured with porcelain colored lace and extended down the tree in twisting tails that cascaded in strikingly contrast.
Typically, Mrs. Claus worked for days adjusting and arranging, working and reworking each piece until it fit within a symphony of color, groupings and balance. The tree was the Christmas tradition that she required be complete before she would allow Christmas to come. Santa knew all to well the importance Mrs. Claus placed on this experience. He had spent many long hours teetering atop an overworked metal ladder, leaning out into space while holding ornaments in front of this branch or that branch as Mrs. Claus scrutinized and directed from below. In recent years, Santa had declared that the tree elves, originally chosen only to find the first tree of Christmas, now be allowed the special opportunity to also assist her in all the subsequent preparations. An announcement which pleased both Santa and the elves considerably, although for vastly different reasons.
Regardless of how it happened and the time it required, Santa admired the drive with which Mrs. Claus displayed in her endeavors to prepare, in her way, for the most important time of the year. He encouraged her efforts and enjoyed watching it take shape each Christmas.