The president of the Niagara-on-the-Lake branch of the Royal Canadian Legion is standing by the tradition of erecting a small, nondescript Christmas tree at the Queen Street clock tower cenotaph despite criticisms calling for something more festive.
Al Howse, president of the local Legion, says the purpose of this tree on the cenotaph is to memorialize an incident that happened during the First World War, in which the opposing sides stopped their fighting to recognize the arrival of Christmas, met halfway between the trenches and had a Christmas tree put up there.
“That spirit is what we’ve always tried to show with a small tree on the cenotaph. There is nothing fancy about what you get in the trenches,” he added.
As part of a partnership between the town, the legion and the NOTL Chamber of Commerce, the tree — which has been named Tommy to reference the slang moniker given to British soldiers — is also the focal point of the community-geared Tommy’s Holiday Gift Drive.
However, despite being the face of generosity, Tommy has plenty of haters due to his simple and unassuming stature in the middle of Old Town’s busiest shopping and tourist thoroughfare.
“I am hoping that there is a community effort to decorate it — it’s naked,” said passerby Jan Martin of Louisville, Ky., noting its lack of ornaments and the small string of tiny lights.
“It needs a little Charlie Brown love.”
The tree is also getting pruned online.
The NOTL 4 ALL Facebook page has been a hot spot for comments about Tommy since late November.
“It’s just sad,” wrote Linda Chalmers from her keyboard.
“For such an amazing town known for holiday decorations, I would love to see something much larger with traditional decorations,” wrote Lilian Morabito.
Sherrie Rosen also began her Facebook post with not-so-good feelings about Tommy.
“NOTL is the home of Christmas movies and decorations on the street,” she wrote.
“Who made this tree decision? Terrible. Small and not decorated. Expectations not met,” she added.
Rosen, however, was one of many people to have strong negative opinions about the tree to only later change their minds.
Cut back to the tree’s First World War symbolism.
Howse’s explanation of the story of a temporary armistice and soldiers meeting between the trenches on Christmas Day has more detail.
Known as the Christmas truce, it was Dec. 25, 1914, when German and British soldiers put down their arms, crawled out of their miserable and cold trenches and met in the scarred void of no man’s land.
They sang, shared food and played soccer, while others used the time to find fallen comrades and returned them posthumously to their own lines. Pictures were taken and some accounts even recall the exchanging of gifts.
Armed with this information, tunes about Tommy begin to change.
“They didn’t decorate in trenches,” was Donna Ritchie’s response to Rosen’s post, providing some context to Tommy’s existence.
Rosen took Richie’s response to heart and read up on the meaning of Tommy’s lack of adornments.
“I have talked to people in town and not one person knew that this tree was symbolic,” replied Rosen.
“Now that I have been told, I get it.”
The same thing happened to Kathryn Mangiarano.
She and her young daughter Theia were walking along Queen Street without any prior knowledge of the tree when asked for her opinion.
“It’s lacking ornaments, it’s lacking in size, it’s kind of like an afterthought almost,” she said.
Now take her response when context was provided.
“Ok, well, that’s looking at it with a different perspective,” she said.
“I would say it would be a tree of hope — a kind of beacon of hope.”
“That is a whole different idea when you give that background information,” she added.
Still, some simply feel Christmas time should look like Christmas time no matter the context.
“Why are people making excuses for putting up a sorry-looking tree there?” asked Mandi Lee on a post from Linda Telford that provided a detailed explanation of Tommy’s purpose.
“This explanation makes no sense to me and nobody cares. If you can’t do something proper then you shouldn’t do it at all.”
Tommy’s Holiday Gift Drive
Members of the public are being asked to share some joy by purchasing an unwrapped gift for a child and giving it in the name of Tommy at any other following sites:
- Town Hall (1593 Four Mile Creek Rd.)
- General Nelles Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion (410 King St.)
- NOTL Chamber of Commerce (26 Queen St.)
- NOTL Community Centre (14 Anderson Ln.)
- NOTL Public Library (10 Anderson Ln.)
- NOTL Museum (43 Castlereagh St.)
Donations are being accepted until Dec. 5.
The gifts will be gathered for a photo under Tommy. Once the photo is taken, they will be distributed to families in need via Newark Neighbours and the Niagara Regional Native Centre.
