The Carpenter's Gift: A Christmas Tale About the Rockefeller Center Tree

Henry and his family live in an old shack. It is December 24, 1931, at the height of the Great Depression, but Henry doesn't complain about the cold or the lack of food. Complaining doesn't help anyway.

One afternoon, Henry jumps into the truck when his father asks if he wants to go for a ride. First, they go to a grove of spruce trees and cut them down, then they load them in the back of the truck and drive about an hour into New York City. In Midtown Manhattan, they find a street corner, park their truck, and unload the Christmas trees, assisted by a group of city employees working at a nearby construction site.

At the end of the after noon when it's time to head, there are several trees still left. So Henry and his father give them to Frank and the other workers for their Christmas party. Before they leave town, Henry and his father help to decorate the tree with paper garlands, cranberries on a string, shiny tin cans, and a special star that Henry made folded from newspaper. Before they left for home, Henry wished on the star. He wished that one day his family would live in a nice, warm house instead of the wind-swept shack. Then he bent down and picked up a pinecone that he noticed lying on the ground, and slipped it into his pocket.

At eight o'clock the next morning, Henry was wakened by the sound of several cars blowing their horns in his yard.

He peeked out the window and three trucks had pulled up, full of lumber and other building supplies. In the cabs were the Rockefeller Center workers that they had met in the city yesterday. What were they doing way out here?

A week later, Henry and his family have a new, warm house made out of the leftover wood. Frank gives Henry his hammer before the workers head back to the city. Henry celebrates his wish coming true by planting the pinecone he picked up in the city beside the new house.

Henry grew up and the tree grew up, and Henry became quite a good carpenter. Many years later, a “recruiter” locates Henry's tree and asks that it be donated for the annual Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center. Although, Henry is hesitant at first, the chief gardener convinces him to donate the tree by explaining what happens to the Rockefeller Center tree when Christmas is over.

Many of us watch the ritual of the annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree on television every year, and even if you don't, you will enjoy this heartwarming story.

It is a peak into the 1930s, the Great Depression, and the poverty and hardship that much of this country was suffering at the time. The Christmas party that the construction workers planned, where the first tree was decorated, was their concentrated effort to give thanks for the fact that they had jobs when many didn't.

Mr LaMarche's line drawings and soft, subdued colors add greatly to this text, somehow managing to convey the leanness of the times without conveying a meanness of soul. The character's countenances are cheerful and optimistic even in the midst of great poverty.  Henry and his father are pictured enjoying their time spent together; they obviously have a very loving relationship.

Once you experience it, this historical tale of selfless generosity come full circle will become a holiday favorite.

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