Holiday Surprises

Between mile markers 206 and 207 on the northeast-bound lanes of I-59 toward Chattanooga (just beyond the last Fort Payne exit and before the Valley Head, Mentone, and Hammondville exit), a holiday surprise awaits travelers: a decorated Christmas tree at the edge of the woods past a stone outcropping. Because I passed the tree at 70 mph, I have no photograph to document what I saw. I drove by just as the sky settled into a long twilight and saw the tree early enough to enjoy it, but too fast to register it fully till moments later. Then, I exclaimed "Wow!" aloud to myself in the car and enjoyed the sight in my mind's eye: a real Christmas tree, a large and tall, perfectly-shaped one, strung with balls and garlands, along the side of a busy freeway -- all for the fleeting pleasure of strangers erected and decorated by another stranger. And for what? For the knowledge that such generous gifts, whether large or small, signify a true holiday season.

A second gift awaited me in Stevenson, Alabama, small town aglow with light, first in the Stevenson Town Park where birders and Civil War buffs gather, and then on the main street, where the old railroad station, a beautiful brick edifice reminding citizens and visitors alike of the slower form of travel predating and coinciding with automobiles and trucks -- both glittering and shimmering with happy illumination, the last significant light before my car nosed its way through rolling terrain and then up to the plateau.These free gifts are welcome indeed for a traveler like me, filled with nostalgia for family long gone or far away. Thank you to generous strangers for such light.