My 94-year-old mother, June, a self-proclaimed “peasant daughter of peasant Swedish immigrant parents,” a child of the Great Depression, widow of a World War II veteran, still remembers the story of Christmas trees in the old country.

While recently visiting at her assisted living apartment in Wausau, we read from her book of memoirs she calls, “Hardly a Day Goes by that I Don’t Think of Something.”

“In Sweden, children looked forward to the days following as much as the days leading up to Christmas Day. On the day following, the children would go from home to home and ‘dress down’ the festive trees. Hanging from the branches were homemade treasures, candy, cookies and other treats. Once ‘undressed,’ they would string popcorn, berries and other small fruits on the tree before putting it outside the windows for the wintering birds.”

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