[Oyate]
The Crying Christmas Tree is a lesson in what Christmas is all about and a lesson in selflessness. The setting for this heartwarming Christmas story is many, many years ago on a little Indian reserve in Northwestern Ontario.
The setting for this heartwarming Christmas story is many, many years ago on a little Indian reserve called Whitefish Bay, a small community in Northwestern Ontario. There lived an old couple, Kokum and Tatanon. One Christmas, Kokum, the grandmother, brought home a tree to be decorated as the family’s Christmas tree. But all the children laughed when they saw the scrawny tree she managed to drag home. They threw it out and said they would get a better one. The grandmother was heartbroken and wondered if she should buy them their Christmas gifts after their show of heartlessness. But just like every winter, Kokum and Tatanon set out on horse and sled to do their Christmas shopping in the nearest town one hundred kilometers away. When Kokum returned from shopping, there was a surprise in store for her!