We buy it for the scent, relishing pine

Savoring the outdoors tamed. 

Lights twine first, making day’s end  

a chance for soft illumination. 

The velvet-robed Angel takes the top spot 

A gift retraining eyes and hearts aloft.

Branches fill with tales. 

A scraggly found nest,  

tiny wooden birds and feathery owls 

Perch among wooden skates,  

Gaudy snowmen, 

And prized orbs captured on floors 

Connected by rumbling wooden escalators. 

Handsewn ducks arrived when our daughters did,   

A hatching chick and flop-eared bunny  

Seed their own collections. 

The tantalizing pine herald fades, 

The whiff of time grows stronger 

Culling meaning from memories, 

Erasing the distance from childhood  

Infusing the rings of our daughters’ future trees.