The first year I lived in New York, I bought a very small tree near one of the supermarkets on 110th Street and Broadway near where I was living at the time. The supermarkets are long gone, and the area has changed so much, but that first year is still in my memory because of that lovely little tree. It wasn't tiny, but it was definitely small, and it was so dear to me. I think it cost $11 if I remember rightly, and that was a lot of money for me in those days. I bought ornaments from Woolworths and maybe from some other five and dime type store, and in my eyes that tree was the most beautiful I'd ever seen. I still have those ornaments, and I've used them every year when I've had a tree.
At some point I moved downtown, and I remember a year when the trees began to get very expensive. It was a particularly cold winter, and one day when I was walking past one of the tree sellers, they were advertising that they couldn't take the cold any more and their trees were discounted fifty percent. I bought a Frasier fir that year, the first time that I started to understand what the different types of trees were. This one was more than six feet tall and so big around that it filled an entire area of my apartment. It was lovely, and I remember carrying it home, having to stop and rest because it was so big, but I was so happy to have this beautiful tree that it was worth the struggle.
I used to have a tree every year, but then at some point I moved into an apartment that just didn't seem like there would be a place for one, and I didn't have any extra money then at all, so at that point I stopped. At some point during that time, I had a consulting job helping a music promoter bring a touring youth choir from Southern Africa to New York City for some holiday show fundraisers to bring awareness and funding to their region for medical relief and healthcare. Though I had been contacting all kinds of people and agencies and there was interest in what they were trying to do, I hadn't been having success is finding bookings for them until one day when I was looking at a poster that the man I was working for had given me and I saw the name of the Harlem Boys Choir on it. It was a poster for another concert he'd promoted a few years before and there were all kinds of people involved, but somehow the Harlem Boys Choir name seemed like it was larger than all the rest for a moment, and I felt as if I was hearing a voice telling me to call them. That kind of thing happens to me sometimes, and I've learned since I was born again to listen, and though at that time it was early in my walk with God, I had already had the experience that when I heard that voice I needed to do what it said, even if it made no sense to me. I got out my phone book, because in those days that's what we still did when we wanted to find a telephone number, and I looked up Harlem Boys Choir and found it. I called the number and when I man answered I told him what I was calling about, describing as I had done countless times about this youth choir from Southern Africa and how I was trying to help them find places to perform for the holidays. He told me that it was very interesting that I'd called just then and that he'd answered, because he wasn't usually at that location and he normally wouldn't have answered the phone, but he had a possible client that might be interested in hearing about this youth choir because he was in charge of the bookings for the Harlem Boys Choir and there was someone who had asked him if they could do a series of high profile concerts for the holidays but they were not available. He said he couldn't tell me who the person was because they were such a high profile client, but if I'd send him the information about this group and what the cost would be to have them perform, he'd share the information with the client and let me know if they wanted to move forward. That call led to me and the group I was booking being a part of the New York City launch for Sarah McLachlan's latest album at the time, a Christmas and holiday record of traditional music and cover songs. One of the songs was John Lennon's "And So This Is Christmas," and they needed a youth choir to sing backup for three events. One was a radio show, one was Good Day New York, and the other was the Rockefeller Tree Lighting Ceremony. That Christmas season that year is so memorable for so many reasons, and that experience was a beautiful one. The night of the tree lighting I was under the tree as it was lit, ad every year since, whenever I see that beautiful tree I remember that night and that phone call that led me to that place.
This year of course was a very different one than those in the past, but though the City has been quieter than it would normally be, it's definitely feeling much more like it used to around holiday time. The tree at Rockefeller Center is another beautiful one, and the holiday windows at Saks Fifth Avenue across the street are filled with light and life. At times like this when I look back on years past, I'm grateful for those times that I've had that were sweet and lovely and extraordinary. There's something to be said for recognizing those things in our life we have to be grateful for, and as I think about other years and other times when my own life was so uncertain, I know that somehow, some way, if I take in the fact that my steps have always been guided to things that were not only good but were precious, then I can know that as I move into the unknown future that it will be an adventure that is filled with joy.
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