American Christmas Tree

I had a penpal from the US (Duluth, MA). The girl’s name was Joel. The favorite singer was Billy Joel. We exchanged letters for two years at least. She sent me some pictures. One of the pictures was a picture of Christmas tree at her house. It was a traditional American Christmas tree – very tall, full of ornaments. It reached up to the ceiling. Beneath the tree was an enormous mountain of gifts, wrapped in shiny gift paper of different colors. A big lazy cat was laying under the tree. I could not comprehend the amount of gift and the size of the tree. I still see this picture vividly 30 years later. Lisa.