The Christmas Tree

'Silent Night', Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol', 'It's a Wonderful Life', 'The Star Wars Christmas Special', 'Merry Christmas Mister Lawrence' and 'Gremlins' - All great works of Christmas entertainment that will surely live on throughout the ages. Many artists have dreamed of becoming part of this popular canon and joining the ranks of the immortals, but only the rarest of talents manages to produce a work on par with these greats. One author who dared and succeeded beyond anyone's imagination was an eight year-old boy genius named Trevor Ludlow.

Already an accomplished and published author in the fields of science fiction (The Beginning of Life on the Moon) and Travel Writing (The Tin City), Trevor turned his attention to the difficult task of creating an evocative and lyrical Christmas story that would have a traditional narrative, but still appeal to modern audiences. The result was the sublime and elegant 'The Christmas Tree'.

The recently-unearthed manuscript is available to you, dear reader, for the first time, so that you can see that Trevor's talent emerged fully-formed. His confidence in the material was so strong that he actually typed the one-and-only copy without even outlining his ideas before writing. It is worth noting too, that Trevor's typing skills, punctuation and grammar are all startlingly evolved and already at the stage that has served him so well in his later career endeavours.

Without wishing to over-simplify a story that I believe can be enjoyed on many levels, I think it's worth noting the absence of a Santa-Claus character in the story, but still a hint of the supernatural in the way the tree magically appears. This is a clever device on Trevor's part to be inclusive of other religions and not just Christians. It is a plea for tolerance and acceptance of differences. The tree appears through supernatural means, but who, or what made it appear?

I also think it's incredibly poignant that the hero of the piece, a mouse called 'Norman' is thrilled to receive a piece of cheese for Christmas. To me, it is much more touching for someone to be thrilled about receiving something that they need, rather than being disappointed in something they thought they wanted. 

Please consider what is important to you, dear reader, whilst enjoying this magical tale:

The Christmas Tree

Once upon a time there lived a tiny mouse called Norman.

He lived at the edge of the forest in a small house which he made with his own hands.

It was small but he liked it very much.

One day as he was enjoying his bacon and eggs, he heard a great thud and he nearly choked from the shock.

He even got a bigger shock when he saw a tiny Christmas tree on his door-step not even marked.

'That's odd,' he said to himself.

'I've heard of falling stars before, but I've never heard of falling Christmas Trees.'

'I wonder where it came from,' he muttered.

He went inside to finish his breakfast.

'I wonder what I'll do today,' he said 'I know, I'll go and scare the socks off the farmer's wife.'

He finished his breakfast and was off - except for one little thing - the Christmas tree, of course!

He would have to move it to some other suitable place.

It turned out to be harder than he expected, for no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move it.

He tugged and pulled at it but it didn't move.

He waited for ten minutes and then tried again without success.

It was night when he finally gave up.

He went upstairs muttering.

He quickly went to bed hoping it wouldn't be there in the morning.

When morning came, the Christmas tree was inside and under it was a big block of cheese.

He was so happy he burst out in a funny little rhyme:

I've heard of raining cats and dogs

I've heard of people rolling logs

There's a thing called a falling star

But I've never heard of this bizarre

These words I say today

I mean it truly in every way

To all a Merry Christmas and to all a good night!

To all a Merry Christmas and to all a good night!

Love from

Trev's Treehouse