By JOSEPH KELLARD
³It¹s such a sentimental tree, we didn¹t want to just cut it down and put it to no use,² Michelle said.
The seeds of that sentiment stretch back to Michelle¹s pre-school days, when her father, Steve, who was divorced from her mother, Toni, would take her to McDonald¹s when he visited her every other Sunday. One Earth Day, the restaurant gave out potted trees, and Michelle received an evergreen the size of a stem.
When she brought it home to her mother, Michelle¹s grandparents, Grace and Nick Geraci, who lived with them in their Oceanside home and took care of Michelle while Toni worked, put the potted tree in their backyard.
Through the years, Grace took care of the tree, transplanting it into progressively larger pots as it grew. Last summer, when Grace and Nick checked on the tree, which was thriving near a fence, its roots had grown through its pot and into the ground, where it was threatened to reach into a neighbor¹s yard. So the family decided it was time to cut it down.
³I said, why don¹t we cut it down and I can use it as my first Christmas tree ‹ that way it doesn¹t just go to waste,² said Michelle, who¹s now 25 and was married in September. She lives with Scott in East Rockaway.
The couple cut the tree down last Friday, and set it up, decorated it and celebrated around it in their new home.
³Beside my mother, who pretty much always worked full time, my grandparents pretty much raised me,² Michelle said. ³Since I moved out in September when I got married, it¹s been so hard to stay away, because my grandparents are like my favorite people in the entire world. They were like parents to me. And how many grandparents would plant a tree and follow through all those years like they did?²
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com.
