My Childhood Christmas Experience
Not My Childhood Tree I grew up poor. I lived in a 3-bedroom apartment with my mother in the late 70's and late 1980's. In that time, I experienced what it was like to be poor at Christmas time. I remember one year, my mother gave my brother and I $10 and said to go get a Christmas tree. So I walked with him to the local tree seller behind the IGA in Winnipeg right off Beliveau road. Technically, the lot was on the corner of Dakota and St. Mary's. Anyway, when I got down there they didn't have many trees available for $10. I finally found one - a bit scraggly and not the perfect tree. I ended up carrying it home with my brother, about a kilometer, home and up 3 flights of stairs to the living room. We set the tree up, and then made home-made decorations such as popcorn string decorations. It wasn't about the gifts. My father was an electrician who worked in a small town about an hour west of Winnipeg. He lived with my grandma, and had a huge alcohol problem. Just...
