Hot Rods Christmas / Xmas Trees and Hot Rods

Well,when looking at the letter X , I only think of another person , associated with "X" and I personally dont think he was in any kind of association with the big guy....

 

Apologies for another off topic reply, but this was covered in a thread a few months ago and I found it interesting then. I don't want anyone to loose any more sleep. We should all feel good about ourselves when we meet our maker right?

Originally posted by hotroddon in the thread "Moon eyes 2010 xmas":

"The exact origin of the single letter X for Christ cannot be pinpointed with certainty. Some claim that it began in the first century AD along with the other symbols, but evidence is lacking. Others think that it came into widespread use by the thirteenth century along with many other abbreviations and symbols for Christianity and various Christian ideas that were popular in the Middle Ages. However, again, the evidence is sparse.
In any case, by the fifteenth century Xmas emerged as a widely used symbol for Christmas. In 1436 Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with moveable type. In the early days of printing typesetting was done by hand and was very tedious and expensive. As a result, abbreviations were common. In religious publications, the church began to use the abbreviation C for the word "Christ" to cut down on the cost of the books and pamphlets. From there, the abbreviation moved into general use in newspapers and other publications, and "Xmas" became an accepted way of printing "Christmas" (along with the abbreviations Xian and Xianity). Even Webster’s dictionary acknowledges that the abbreviation Xmas was in common use by the middle of the sixteenth century.
So there is no grand scheme to dilute Christianity by promoting the use of Xmas instead of Christmas. It is not a modern invention to try to convert Christmas into a secular day, nor is it a device to promote the commercialism of the holiday season. Its origin is thoroughly rooted in the heritage of the Church. It is simply another way to say Christmas, drawing on a long history of symbolic abbreviations used in the church. In fact, as with other abbreviations used in common speech or writing (such as Mr. or etc.), the abbreviation "Xmas" should be pronounced "Christmas" just as if the word were written out in full, rather than saying "exmas." Understanding this use of Christian symbolism might help us modern day Xians focus on more important issues of the Faith during Advent, and bring a little more Peace to the Xmas Season."

OK, more sap covered rods please. Very cool thread!

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I thought I remembered that back from the day - being an Alter Boy
(Latin Only) high mass was 3 hrs

 

Took the Rancho out to get ours on saturday evening. It was a beautiful night in socal

 

now thats a christmas greeting card if i ever saw one

 

Alright! I will take the blame for posting an o/t truck! But the picture you sent me was sooo nice I just thought I would share!! MERRY X-MAS!!

 

Very cool pic...I had to save this one!

 

Baby its cold outside.... Burrrr! Feels like the single digits out there... And we still ain't got no snow. But I'm ready for it! Merry Christmas y'all!

 

Thanks for saving this thread from the OT!! Looks like a great time!

 

Just doing my part haha

 

That is cool WILLY... If I could use photo shop I would have done it
Bill

 

Great Picture thanks for posting - Christmas is for kids - young and old

 

Several times but only 1 pic. I know it doesn't look it but it was in the 20s.



Bill

 

Thanks

 

Great picture guys....thanx keep em coming, im out cause my tree came out of a box for first time ever!

 

May sound corny, but I look forward to this thread every year...

 

btt

 

That is just beautiful!

 

Thanks - my wife call's it her car

 

I'm still looking for the picture, but my Folks used my coupe a couple of years ago to get their tree! I got an e-mail from my mom titled "got our christmas tree". I opened it up, and here's shots of my coupe with an 8' tree hanging out of the trunk!!! Not sure if my Dad just stuck it in there to be funny or not, but he swears they actually used it to get it from the tree farm that is 10 miles away. I store the coupe at their place for the winter, I guess I shouldn't leave the keys in it........

 

The truck is older than alot of kids on the HAMB... and its a truck...and there is a girl in the pic... I call it good!

 

Intro

 

It's spam also
sorry please dont ruin this Christmas thread

 

This picture would make a great Christmas card!

 

Feel free to use it - if you want a better copy -email me
Thanks for the kind words -fun car

 

A Christmas Tree story.

I&#8217;ve been fortunate to live in ColoRODo since 1966&#8230;the place I wanted to move to ever since I was a 13 year old living in very-cold-and-snowy- in-the-winter Iowa. ColoRODo was the ultimate place to live I determined way back then.

In the 1970&#8217;s, I got married, over the years we were blessed with two kids, one of each gender&#8230;some time in there my wife and I bought a brand new house with double doors at the front, a vaulted ceiling, open stairway and fireplace in the living room&#8230;we needed a large tree to dominate our decorations for the perfect time of the year.

My Mother-in-law always liked huge Christmases and my wife followed suit, we always had all our relatives over at Christmas time and always had a huge Christmas dinner that day&#8230;to have a large Christmas tree fit right into that &#8220;tradition.&#8221;

My Father-in-law suggested we go to the mountains to cut a tree ourselves&#8230;sounded like fun. I watched the local paper to see when the tree-cutting permits would be available and when they opened, I purchased one in the nearest area&#8230;Bailey, ColoRODo, about 55 miles from our new home. We decided to make a full day of it&#8230;sandwiches were made, coffee poured into Thermos&#8217;s, mittens and a snow suit for our daughter, boots and stocking caps and gloves for the adults&#8230;and of course, a chain saw and fuel.

Tossed into the back of the F-I-L&#8217;s yellow '64 Ford pickup truck were the supplies we needed, and chains for his tires&#8230;we had no idea where the cutting area was, but we had a map. My wife, daughter, and I, followed in our brand new Olds Delta 88&#8230;once off the main highway and into the large pines, up and down and around curves we went, the road narrowed, the snow got deeper and the trees got larger&#8230;and more covered with snow&#8230;we finally found a wide spot in road and parked the Olds, I certainly didn&#8217;t need it stuck up in the mountains til springtime&#8230;

According to our map, the tree cutting area was only another mile&#8230;so we unloaded the trunk, moved the lunch stuff and all of us piled into the pick-up bed&#8230;even tho it was quite sunny, the cold was bitter&#8230;after riding for about 20 minutes, literally going nowhere fast, I wasn&#8217;t so sure tree hunting/cutting was a good idea&#8230;when the F-I-L declared the truck wasn&#8217;t going to go any farther because of the snow&#8230;it was all on foot from then on.

Good thing, too, as we had just made it inside the cutting area, marked by red ribbon on several trees. I jumped out of the bed and literally sank past my knees&#8230;my daughter could hardly move thru the deep snow, but if she stayed in the truck&#8217;s tracks, she was OK&#8230; I waded into some tall pines looking for a good specimen and my wife and daughter stayed in the truck&#8217;s tracks, looking. My daughter yelled for me, &#8220;there&#8217;s a nice one over there.&#8221; And it was&#8230;full limbs, the perfect shape and not that far from the truck&#8230;I made my way back to the truck to get the chainsaw and asked the F-I-L if he&#8217;d help cut it down.

Twenty minutes later, the tree fell, with great fanfare&#8230;and snow blowing off it all over us&#8230;it was perfect, now all we had to do was get it back to the truck and home. Ever try to haul a huge tree thru knee deep snow and snow drifts&#8230;??? It took the four of us adults better than 45 minutes to move it the block and a quarter from where I downed it.

Tired&#8230;??? Exhausted more like it, because, believe it or not, we were about 8,000 feet above sea level and the air is mighty thin up there.

We managed to get it to the truck and then had a late lunch&#8230;the hot coffee sure felt good cuz my feet were beginning to feel cold and numb, and so were my fingers. The short rest we got gave us kind of a renewal and it didn&#8217;t take long for three of us to hoist the tree into the bed and tie it down. My wife and daughter decided to ride in the cab back to the Olds, it was warmer&#8230;I stayed in the bed&#8230;it was even colder than the ride in.

By the time we got the truck turned around, back to the Olds and I followed my F-I-L out to the main highway, it was dark. As we made the last two miles down out of the canyon, the lights of Denver twinkled in the distance&#8230;home, and a roaring fire would sure feel good.

We stopped at the F-I-L&#8217;s place to trade cars&#8230;I dropped off my Olds&#8230;and we took the truck to the other side of town. By the time we got home I was dead tired, and the daughter was already konked out&#8230;I parked the truck on the drive, vowing I&#8217;d move the tree in the morning.

Sunday came early, but I&#8217;d made a promise. I untied the tree and attempted to get it in the house&#8230;I had to open both doors to the living room to get the lower branches in. Once inside, I had a hard time getting the tree upright, it was taller than I thought. I managed to get it upright with great effort, tipped it against the corner walls and had to use four 2 x 4&#8217;s on the bottom to hold it up. That little red metal tree holder we used on last year&#8217;s tree simply wasn&#8217;t going to do it. I stood back and admired it&#8230;our house was a two story, the living room had a vaulted ceilings &#8230;the tree literally touched the ceiling&#8230;it was almost 19 feet tall. I had to bring in a ladder to put the angel on the top of it.

I should have known the tree was bigger than I thought when I tried to wrestle it thru the snow. I should have known it was huge when we finally got the tree loaded and the top of tree stuck out over the hood of the truck. I should have known that tree was massive when I couldn&#8217;t get it thru the front doors without bending the branches.

When we started decorating, and when we thought we were done, we&#8217;d used up everything we had&#8230;the tree looked like something out of a Scrooge movie&#8230;it was sparse. I had to go out and buy more lights and tinsel for the tree&#8230;days later, when we finally put the finishing touches on it, it looked good.

Christmas Eve, we had friends over for egg nog and a small gift exchange. I couldn&#8217;t find the cat&#8230;hadn&#8217;t seen him for a few hours&#8230;he was always underfoot when we were decorating and he loved batting the ornaments around&#8230;I figured he was just hiding out cuz I&#8217;d gotten mad at him a few times for knocking the ornaments off the tree. We had a blazing fire going, the egg nog was a bit strong, the mistle-toe hadn&#8217;t seen any action yet and the atmosphere was festive. Our guests were sitting around commenting on how big the tree was and listening to my tree hunting story when I heard a strangely familiar sound&#8230;the sound of tree limbs cracking and being crushed&#8230; I was at the far end of the living room when I looked up to see the tree heading my direction&#8230;the angel batted the egg nog out of my hand and the tree collapsed at the feet of our guests &#8230; no more than the tree hit the floor than the cat came screaming out from under it&#8230;took three giant leaps and stopped at the top of the stairs with the &#8220;what the blue-blazes just happened&#8221; look on his face. The lights on the tree were still working and we were all shocked at the collapse, but the cat sure lightened the mood. It took half an hour to upright the tree and pick up the ornaments and we ended up having a great Christmas Eve and a great story to tell.

The next year the tree was slightly smaller (ten foot) and not only did I use 2 X 4&#8217;s on it again, but I wired it into the corner walls via eyehooks&#8230;I wasn&#8217;t going to have another tree fall on us again.

True story&#8230;!!!
R-

 

Great story -thanks so much for sharing- love the cats input