Christmas spirit alive in Arcadia

Now that the holidays are over and my youngest daughter Brittany has gone back to teach 5th grade in Missouri where it is more than 90 degrees colder than it is here, I’ve had time to reflect on another wonderful holiday week with our daughters and friends and how much we have to be grateful for (besides the much warmer weather).

by Scott Hettrick

For those people back East and in the Midwest who wonder how we can get in the Christmas spirit without snow and cold weather, I’d like to share two brief personal experiences this year that gave us a warm holiday glow:

* A Christmas tree gesture: With a wedding to attend in Missouri the weekend before Christmas for which we would be gone four nights, our family decided not to get a Christmas tree before we left since it might be a fire hazard while we were gone. We decided to take our chances with picked-over trees upon our return, even if it wound up being a tree only Charlie Brown could love.

Brittany and I pulled into Uncle Buck’s on Foothill Blvd. Wednesday morning, less than two days before Christmas, and saw only a handful of remaining trees that didn’t look much better than Charlie Brown’s. When we told the young worker that we were looking for the best 7-foot tree we could find, he turned and pointed out a tree still rolled up that he said normally sold for $110.

Billboard seen by drivers on the eastbound 210 freeway near Rosemead Blvd.

As he cut the bindings and the branches fell open, Brittany and I looked at each other with the same thought — this was the most perfectly-shaped, fresh, 7-foot tree we could have hoped to find a month earlier. When he said he could sell it to us for $30 since it was so close to Christmas, Brittany took charge and said, “Sold!”

That would have made us plenty happy, but it got even better. When I asked if Uncle Buck himself (Dan Stremel) was around so I could wish him Merry Christmas and tell him thanks for making our holiday brighter (I made an Uncle Buck’s Pumpkin Patch video about his family-owned business for this website two years earlier), the young man came back with an offer: even knowing we had already agreed to pay $30 for the $110 tree, Stremel said he wanted to knock another $10 off and charge us only $20. He then came out himself and made a nice fresh cut off the trunk of the tree and helped his young workers strap the tree to the roof of our car.

It was a bright, sunny and warm day but that was an experience that would have fit perfectly into any Christmas movie.

* Christmas carolers: Christmas eve came and we had no Christmas decorations outside, not even an ordinary lightbulb on at the front door when it turned dark. Not expecting any company as the five of us were settling in for the night, we were all a little curious when the doorbell rang.

As I was already in my pajamas, my wife answered the door. To her surprise, she was greeted by a group of maybe a dozen or so teens and young adults asking if they could sing Christmas carols for us.

Of course, my wife agreed, and Brittany, Chelsea, and Frank soon gathered in the entryway to watch and listen while I hung behind them in my pajamas.

Making the surprise even more special was that these were complete strangers to us and it appeared that each of the carolers was of Asian descent. I can’t remember the last time carolers came to our door as in days of old. How delightful to see such a group of young people making such an effort to adopt and keep this wonderful custom alive.

Their music was pretty and heartfelt.

It was another special traditional holiday experience, and one that could only happen at Christmastime.