Dayton Chronicle - Your Hometown News Source

-Submitted photo

The joys of Christmas, still fresh in our memories as the new decade gets underway this month, are underscored by memories of time long past. This beautifully lighted tree has a story, related to the Chronicle by Edward "Bud" Smith of Dayton, and provides a touching coda to the Christmas season just behind us. It seems that Bud, years ago and when a small lad, overheard his parents discussing forgoing a Christmas tree that particular year. "Broken hearted, I walked outside with Dad and expressed my disappointment," Smith wrote. "Dad then pointed at a little three-foot tree in our yard that he had brought home from the mountains the year before, and simply said.... 'Schmedly, we'll always have a Christmas tree.'" The tree still stands today and is over 30 feet tall, Smith says.