Christmas Tree Lane in Oxnard
December 23, 2011
By R.S. Rodriguez
When I was about 14 years old and my father was 60, we planted a blue spruce on the front lawn. It was about a six-foot sapling. After two years or so as it became stronger and its roots were better established, my mother asked me to hang about a half dozen large Christmas ornaments she had purchased at a yard sale. I didn’t realize at the time that doing so would be the beginning of a 34 (and counting) year tradition.
As the tree grew, so did my mother’s pursuit of ornaments. She would purchase them at garage and yard sales, flea markets and small and large retail stores, alike (but only after the Holidays when the prices were relatively reasonable, as some of the decorations still in boxes before the holidays would cost between $10-$25, depending on the brand and size). Eventually, especially after the holidays, my siblings, sisters and brothers-in-law and I would stumble upon good buys and purchase, accordingly. We adhered to a stern policy, though: never spend more than four dollars on an individual ornament.
A few years later I left for university in San Francisco and lived there for many years after I graduated. Upon my return to spend Christmas annually with the family, I was always asked by my mother to decorate the spruce. Each time I’d begin the process by lowering the large plastic bags filled with ornaments (which we stored in the garage rafters). And each time I returned for the holidays, I noticed we had accumulated more and more ornaments.
Our family’s home is located on a relatively busy street in southern California. Hundreds of cars and dozens of school children pass our home and the tree daily during the Christmas season, as our home is nestled between two elementary schools. Drivers have been honking, giving thumbs up and yelling out the windows as they pass with shouts of “beautiful!” and “that’s awesome!” for many years as we’ve gone through the process of decorating the tree. The kids stroll by and look with glee.
Strangers have knocked on our front door a few times over the years and have graciously given us some of their larger ornaments as a reflection of their appreciation of our efforts to bring holiday cheer to our street and neighborhood. Their gestures are of course appreciated.
This year marks about the 34th anniversary of this tradition. The spruce is now about 50 foot high and we have accumulated, purchased and obtained over 340 ornaments. What began so many years ago with six ornaments has now evolved into a three day process (this season, I rewired each and every ornament, using more than 350 feet of galvanized wire. That’s more than the length of a football field).
My father passed away earlier this year and I’m almost 50 years old. Once I prepared the ornaments and began to hang them on the branches, I kept reflecting on that day so many years ago when my father and me planted the tree. It was the only time over all those years where I found myself periodically becoming emotional while standing on a 12 foot ladder.
Oxnard Botanical Gardens
December 16, 2011
By Aurelio Ocampo, Jr.
Friends,
Thanks again for all of your support!
Since the last time I wrote to you there has been some positive news I would like to share with you.
If you haven’t done so, I would like to invite you to join our facebook page so that you get updates on our progress to include botanical gardens at “Campus Park” at the old Oxnard High School site. You can also see the plans we have designed. The facebook page is: Oxnard Campus Gardens. Make sure you click the “like” button to make sure you get the updates. You can also visit our website at:oxnardcampusgardens.org
After talking to community leaders and regular citizens, we have created an illustration and programmed different spaces to include into “Campus Park”. Oxnard Parks and Recs was kind enough to allow us to present this plan to them and consider it into their agenda. We feel that if it wasn’t for your support we couldn’t have gone this far.
We are getting closer to our goal. But we still need a couple of crucial steps to make it happen. Early next year 2012, the Oxnard City Council, which will have already seen our plan, is going to vote for, or against, the current plan (not our plan) for “Campus Park”. We need them to vote against the current plans. Remember, we seem to have their support for our plans, so why do we need to worry? Well, whether they support our plan or not won’t matter as much as the number of voters that support our plan, because with such strong support, City Council will be more than willing to vote for our plan . In other words, the more petition signatures we have, the more likely that Oxnard City Council will vote “no” on the current plans, be presented with our “alternative” plans, and vote yes on our plans.
Will you continue to help our cause and let your friends and family know to sign the petiton by simply clicking on the following link and filling in their info? http://signon.org/sign/city-
