Neighbors Work Together to Help 88-Year-Old Man’s Christmas Dream Come True
This is what Christmas is all about. Neighbors who worked together to help an 88-year-old man’s Christmas dream come true.
Arbor Day
Are you old enough to remember this? When I was in grade school, we got little trees, or saplings, every Arbor Day. There was only one that ended up getting planted correctly in our yard and grew into what looked to me like a Christmas tree. I couldn’t wait to cut that thing down and put it in our house for Christmas. I was so proud of it. But it never happened. It eventually grew and grew and grew and became much too large to be our Christmas tree.
Of all the saplings my sisters and I brought home on Arbor Days over the years, that is the only one that took. My sisters and I moved from that house one by one, and eventually, my parents moved from “the house that built me,” but I’m reminded of that tree by a similar story that recently happened in Ohio …
Christmas dream
In the town of Mentor on the Lake, Ohio, lives an 88-year-old man named Gene who, like my dad, planted the tree his child brought home on Arbor Day some four decades ago. Like our tree, this one took and grew and grew and grew. For years Gene dreamed of decorating the tree for Christmas, but just never got around to it. But this year, his dream came to fruition with the help of donations and support from the community. What happened after that was an emotional and memorable moment as the tree was lit for the first time.
According to Mentor-on-the-Lake Police Department,
On Friday, 11/24/23, Mentor on the Lake resident of 70 years, Gene, was surprised by family members and members of the community. Gene is 88 years of age and planted a sapling 40 years ago at his residence on Thunderbird Drive.
The community took up donations for lights, and for the first time ever the tree was decorated and lit. Gene, undoubtedly, was overwhelmed when he saw the tree – but so were his friends, family, and neighbors because this is what the Christmas dream is made of.
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