'The Smallest Christmas Tree': San Ramon Has Talent

SAN RAMON, CA — As you pick out your Christmas tree this year, local poet Philip Henika reminds readers that you don't have to have the biggest tree on the block to create holiday magic.

Thank you for your submission, Philip! If you'd like to share original writing, poetry, artwork, or photography, email Michael.wittner@patch.com.

The Smallest Christmas Tree

by Philip Henika

Once when we were young,
We drove home
Late at night,
Coming home from Sacramento
Leaving my wife’s family Christmas
Because we had to get back to
Castro Valley
For work the next day.

It was around 2:00 am,
Pitch black on the 680
Outside Cordelia,
No one out there except us,
Driving a clear cold night
With my wife and sons asleep
In a warm car.

It was the smallest Christmas Tree
That I have ever seen.
A farmer must have dragged a long
Extension cord onto the field,
Four, maybe five branches,
Four lights,
Red, green, blue and orange.

Over thirty-thousand lights
And
Over a thousand ornaments
Adorn the eighty foot
Christmas Tree
By Macy’s in Union Square,
Saw it on television this year,
Wonderful sight.

But I still remember
the three-foot Christmas Tree
With the four frosty lights
And the warm feeling of Christmas
That it gave
To anyone passing by.