A Winter Discovery Read Online Free PDF

Gerry couldn’t tell what particular kind of tree this was, but its branches were tightly packed and sturdy. It wasn’t quite as tall as the tree Ally had suggested and then rejected, but it would certainly claim a prominent place in the house.
    Once she had their attention, Tanya walked completely around the tree.
    “No bald spots, Mill,” she said to Ally.
    Ally approached the tree and smiled at Tanya. “Just like your Dad...at least so far.”
    Reese’s voice rang out from about twenty yards away. “I found it!”
    They turned toward him, finding him sitting next to a tree that, if anything, was smaller than the previous one he’d claimed. When they got close to him, he gestured toward the virtual seedling and said, “It’s not such a bad little tree.”
    Gerry looked at Reese and then over at Tanya. From her expression, he could see that his daughter had just figured out something.
    “He’s looking for a Charlie Brown tree,” she said.
    Of course , Gerry thought. Now that Tanya had jogged his memory, he remembered the line from the show.
    Tanya knelt next to her brother and touched the tree. “Maybe it just needs a little love,” she said, quoting “A Charlie Brown Christmas” back at him. Reese nodded enthusiastically.
    “Hey, Reese,” Ally said, throwing a quick glance to Gerry, “how about this? We’ll get this tree for your room and then we’ll get another big tree for the living room.”
    Reese nodded again, and Gerry approached with the saw, though he probably could have pulled the thing out of the ground with his hands. Making sure that Reese kept his fingers far away from the cutting edge of the blade, he helped his son take down the tree. He offered to carry it for the boy, but Reese wanted to do this himself – and, realistically, it wasn’t going to be much of a burden, even to a six-year-old.
    Now that he had his Charlie Brown tree, Reese set his sights on something considerably larger for the living room. Gerry tried to explain why a twelve-footer would be problematic under an eight-foot ceiling, but even though he said he understood, Reese kept suggesting behemoths.
    A few minutes later, Ally found a stately and full seven-footer, and everyone approved it, even Reese, who gave his okay although the tree was “a little shrimpy.” As was family tradition, Gerry wielded the saw while Ally and Tanya stood on either side to catch it as it fell. Reese coached.
    “Don’t get too close to the blade, Dad,” Reese said, poking his head under the branches.
    “Got that covered.”
    “Don’t get any sawdust in your eyes.”
    “Good advice, but I think I’m okay.”
    “You might wanna saw faster.”
    “Easier said than done.”
    Gerry had worked up a good sweat by the time the tree came down and they’d carried it to be wrapped and tied to the car. He knew he’d feel a burn in his arms tonight from the sawing. It would make him feel like he’d participated in the process today, and there was a good chance that Ally would offer to massage the aches away once they were alone.
    Reese’s tree could have easily fit in the trunk – maybe even the glove compartment – but he said he wanted to hold it in his lap. As was traditional, they stopped at a bakery a couple of miles away from the farm for cocoa and apple pie. Reese wanted to take the tree into the bakery with him, but Gerry thought it best that he not do so. It took a bit of negotiation before the boy finally agreed to “leave the tree alone” in the car.
    Less than an hour later, they were heading home with Barenaked Ladies “Barenaked for the Holidays” album playing on the car stereo. Gerry had more than five hundred Christmas songs on his iPod from artists as wide ranging as Rosemary Clooney, James Brown, and Death Cab for Cutie, but this Barenaked Ladies recording became one of his favorites the minute he downloaded it, as it was equal parts good-naturedly irreverent and surprisingly respectful.
    “Another snowflake that