‘Hang me on a tree!’

-Brian Mendonça

Our search for a Christmas tree for our new home ended the moment we saw it. There it stood proudly in the shop window, stretching its magnificent snowy arms.  Decorating it were baubles of every hue. Atop it was an angel trumpeting the good news of the birth of the Christ child.  The tree itself was placed on a carpet of bright red cloth. Window lights strained to accentuate every angle of its allure. Yes that was the one that would sit nicely in our drawing room.

But could we afford it?

This was a 6-foot tree.  In the deeper reaches of the store was another tree. It seemed to look similar but not quite. Something was missing.  It carried a price tag of Rs. 4925 on it.

 Always ask the price of what you are not interested in first. Then warm up to what you actually want. You might get it cheaper. My lessons in bargaining strategy were coming back to me.

I stepped up to the billing desk and inquired whether there was any discount on the price of the tagged tree. The lady at the counter did some calculations and pronounced, ‘We can give it for Rs. 4725.’  

Then I turned my attention to bigger game. ‘How much is that?’ I inquired, pointing to the tree standing tall in the shop window. ‘It’s the same tree,’ I was told, referring to the one I had seen in the recesses of the shop.

I looked at Queenie and she agreed that we should buy it.  At that moment a senior sales person approached us and asked if he could help. We said we were trying to make up our mind about which tree to take. Looking at me staring wistfully at the one in the shop window, he affably said, ‘I can give you that one, if you want.’

When assistants pulled out the box, it was discovered that the model number of the tree was not the same as the tree for which Rs. 4725 was quoted, and which was agreed on. Hugely embarrassed, the senior sales person apologized that a mistake had been made. The tree in the shop window was actually Rs. 6950.

This figure was way above what we could afford. We impressed upon the sales person that they should honour their word – and retain their client.  After some persuasion we settled on Rs. 5500 for the tree plus Rs. 500 worth of a Christmas-themed salver, streamers, and decorations.

Anticipating what his gaffe would cost, the sales person had said, ‘You can hang me on a tree!’  ‘Like Jesus,’ I shot back. 

Some Bible versions like the King James, say Jesus was hanged on a tree. The commercialization of the Christmas tree is so far removed from the austerity of the tree on which Jesus was nailed. The bare stable in which He was born preaches a different creed. The crib to the cross is a lesson in humility – and the message of Christmas.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, St. Inez, Goa on Sunday, 23rd December 2018. Pix taken outside one of the Christmas stores in Panjim  on 16 December 2018.