Now, this was not some normal nor natural Christmas tree. This was not even, strictly speaking, a Christmas Tree. This was a giant oak on a walking trail beside a rather tiny creek.

This tree was tall with spreading branches reaching out which seemed to say, “Come play in me!”

It was His Gaga Jackie who had discovered this wondrous tree. Gaga Jackie had been running by one springtime day when the tree first called to her and actually giggled, “Come play with me!”

Well, Gaga Jackie was always ready to play, so she paused in her run long enough to get to know this jolly tree, who gave her such a good time, she just had to bring her grandson, Jack, to meet him.

Now Jack was a bit skeptical when she told him, “Come on, Jack. You just have to meet my new friend. I call him, Jolly, the Christmas tree.”

“That’s silly. How can a tree be your friend? And why would he be called Jolly? And it’s not even Christmas, silly!”

“Well, you’ll just have to meet him. Then you’ll understand.”

“Okay! Okay! Let’s go!”

So his Gaga Jackie and Jack walked together around the corner, then passed a curve in the road, dodging the cherries spattered along sidewalk, out to the main road and on to the bridge, where they took the trail by the small creek.

To Jack it seemed like they walked miles and miles, and he got very tried, but when he saw Jolly, he immediately forgot his tiredness and squealed with delight when Jolly laughed deeply and invited Jack, “Hey Jack. Come play with me. Hee! Hee! Hee! My name is Jolly, the Christmas tree.”

Jack ran and jumped up and down, laughing at the jolly face somehow winking and laughing back at him as Jack shouted, “Wait! How are you talking to me? You’re a tree! That’s impossible!”

“Hee! Hee! Hee! That’s just because you never met a talking tree! See?”

Jack couldn’t help but giggle. “Yes, I see!”

Jolly, “Well, you know what they always say, ‘Seeing is believing.’Now, Gaga Jackie, if you will lift Jack into my low-hanging branch over there, I’ll give Jack a ride.”

Gaga Jackie carefully placed Jack in a huge branch hanging low, pretty close to the ground.

“Hee! Hee! Hee! Exactly! Hang on tight. Here we go!” He began swaying back and forth, giving Jack the ride of his life.

Jack was so excited he could hardly speak. “Gaga Jackie! Gaga Jackie! Look at me! I’m swinging in a tree!”

“Hee! Hee! Hee! Yes you are. You surely are swinging in Jolly, the Christmas tree. Just imagine what you could do if I had a real swing

hanging down from one of those huge branches way up high?”

Gaga Jackie loved that idea. “That would be perfect. Right by the creek. Lots of children walking past with their Moms and Dads, their Grandmas and their Grandpas. They would all love to stop and swing.”

“Hee! Hee! Hee! And swing in me, Jolly, the Christmas tree!”

GaGa Jackie and Jack rushed home to tell Papa Paul about the magical tree. He at first seemed skeptical at their story of this talking, giggling, yet playful Christmas tree. But Gaga Jackie and Jack convinced him as they got so excited, taking turns to tell him how they had met, talked and laughed with this irresistible tree who called himself Jolly and insisted that he was a Christmas tree.

Papa Paul shook his head, rubbed his eyes and tried to get them to help him figure it out. But He finally agreed to provide the gleeful tree with a swing.

So Papa got the rope and cut and sanded and finished a large, beautiful wooden seat for the swing. He even let Jack help him with the sanding. Next he let Jack help him with marking the places to drill for the rope holes.

Then Jack and Gaga Jackie and Papa Paul carried the rope and the swing down to the creek, then on to Jolly, the marvelous, the giggling, the talking, the welcoming Christmas tree.

Jack had excitedly convinced his mother and his daddy to go with them to tie the swing on a large branch reaching from Jolly almost all the way to the creek.

So, there were five of them that fabulous day, and Jolly welcomed them all by name.

“Hee! Hee! Hee! Jack, welcome back, buddy of mine! Welcome, Papa Paul and welcome back Gaga Jackie! Welcome Daddy Luke and Mother Rachel! Hee! Hee! Hee! I am Jolly, the Christmas Tree and this is just like a real party.”

“Hee! Hee! Hee! Jack couldn’t help mimicking his delightful if crazy new friend. It is a party! We brought a swing for your biggest branch, that one there, stretching toward the creek. See? Hee! Hee! Hee!”

“That’s great, Jack. Hee! Hee! Hee!”

So Papa Paul, Gaga Jackie, Jack, Luke and Rachel got busy putting the swing on that perfect branch.

“Hee! Hee! Hee! Just perfect! Now, Jack get in, and Papa Paul, you push him as high as he can go and let’s just see how far he can see!”

“Whee! Whee! Look at me! Look Mom! Look Dad! Look at me! See me way up high in Jolly the Christmas Tree! I can see all the way to Jupiter! Whee!”

“Hee! Hee! Hee! Are you sure that’s Jupiter? I think it looks like Saturn to me, Hee! Hee! Hee!”

“No, silly! There are no rings. It’s Jupiter! Oh, that reminds me, why do you call yourself a Christmas tree? I don’ see anything Christmasy about you!”

“Hee! Hee! Hee! That’s a good question. Well, I am jolly, right, not just my name, but by my bright and happy personality? Hee! Hee! Hee! And I just love Christmas songs! Don’t you?”

“Not really. Well, maybe some, like “Jingle Bells!”But how do you know Christmas songs? That’s ridiculous. Trees don’t sing Christmas songs!”

“Hee! Hee! Hee! Don’t be silly. Lots of folks sing when they come running or walking or skipping or jumping by me, and lots of those folks sing Christmas songs.”

Jack had to giggle at Jolly’s silly answer. “Hee! Hee! Hee! So, what is your favorite?”

“Hee! Hee! Hee! That’s a very good question. I like “Jingle Bells,” too, like you. Hee! Hee! Hee! I like “‘Oh Christmas Tree,” of course! Hee! Hee! Hee! But I do believe my favorite is “Away In A Manger. Hee! Hee! Hee! You know I’m made by God just like you. Well, you’re a silly boy and I’m a silly tree! Hee! Hee! Hee! So, I just enjoy thinking about Jesus sleeping in a manger bed—why it seems like the kind of baby who became a boy and would have loved to swing in my big branch and laugh and sing with me. Hee! Hee! Hee! That reminds me that God cares about me and you and all these other trees, those birds over there, your Gaga and Papa, our Mom and your Dad. So, Jack, will you sing with me? And Jack did, and so did his Mom and Dad and Gaga and Papa, while Papa Paul pushed and Jack swang as high as he could.

“Away in a manger,
no crib for a bed,
the little Lord Jesus,
lay down His sweet head,
the stars in the night sky
look down where He lay,
the little Lord Jesus,
asleep on the hay.”

And as they finished, there were all manner of “Hee! Hee! Hees!”