A Charlie Brown Christmas at CSHL
 

The Christmas tree used to be where the flagpole is, near Osterhout is one of the windiest places on campus. And this is one of the things that made me start not liking Christmas. Ten years ago I was in charge of getting the tree. They told me "Go get the biggest tree that you can find and put it up" and so I went on a wild goose chase. I found this 22ft tree that was wrapped up like a pencil but it was the tallest tree so I got it, untied it and it turned out to be like a Charlie Brown tree. It probably had eight branches on it. So all I heard was everyone complaining about this tree "And this is what you came back with," they said. And I had been running around for days, looking for it and standing it up so it was frustrating. At first, I went on previous recommendations as to the way they used to set the tree up, which was not the most sound advice to take because it would blow down at least once a year. You would come in on Monday morning and it was lying in the street. For about three years it must have fallen down. It was the big joke. So I invented another way, after which the tree could probably withstand a hurricane.