The Aluminum Christmas Tree

by Thomas J. Davis

The shiny aluminum tree was the symbol of everything he thought was right in their lives and everything she thought was wrong. It was 1958 and Jimmy Jackson had it all: a wife, two kids, and the promotion that was his ticket to success. Finally, he could afford all those things he had gazed at in the Sears Roebuck catalog. But now that he had the money, would he find that the true cost was more than he could pay?

Genres: Christmas, Fiction

231 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2005

About the author

Thomas J. Davis is Dean and Professor of Religious Studies at the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. Joining the faculty in 1989, he has also worked since then with Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation. After receiving a B.A. in history from West Georgia College (now the University of West Georgia) and an M.Div. from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, he earned his PhD in the history of Christianity and the history of Christian thought from the University of Chicago.

Professor Davis has proudly spent his entire professional academic career at IUPUI with his responsibilities split between the Department of Religious Studies and the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture. He chaired the department from 2003-2008. From 2008-2011 he sat as the Thomas H. Lake Chair in Religion and Philanthropy.

Professor Davis’s interests (and writings) are wide ranging.

His academic specialty is the history and thought of the European Reformation. His first book, The Clearest Promises of God: The Development of Calvin’s Eucharistic Teaching (1995), has been called “epoch making.” Another book on Eucharistic thought in the Reformation, This Is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought, appeared in 2008, characterized in review as both "elegant and erudite." In 2005, Davis published John Calvin, a biography targeted for high school students. An edited book that focuses on John Calvin’s influence on American culture, John Calvin’s American Legacy, came out in 2010. Religion in Philanthropic Organizations: Family, Friend, Foe? is an edited volume that came out of Davis’s work as Lake Chair.

Two books on death/dying/grief appeared in the 1990s. By the Waters of Babylon: One Family's Faith-Journey through Illness appeared in 1995. It was optioned by Readers' Digest. In 1999 it was translated into Chinese. In 1998, God in My Grief: The Music of Grace when Loss Lives On appeared. Both works are nonfiction for general audiences.

Davis has published three novels. The first, The Christmas Quilt (2000), received glowing reviews, from Michigan to Florida, Virginia to California. It has appeared in six different print editions, including a Doubleday Book Club edition. The Aluminum Christmas Tree followed in 2005 and received an Ingram Book Company Premier Pick designation. Both novels saw publication in mass-market paperback editions.

The Devil Likes to Sing is the latest book from Thomas J. Davis (2014). It is a quirky fable about the nature of temptation. Philip Gulley has said that it "ranks with Twain for wit and satire." It's a laugh-out-loud book that also deals seriously with questions of self-identity.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real Rating: 3.5* of five, rounded down in embarrassment

A gift from a delightful old friend, this book arrived at precisely the right time. I was not at my most pleased and happy the day it came. I read the whole book in a sitting, and was much restored and refreshed.

Thomas Davis tells an oft-told tale of a man's descent into depression caused by his single-minded pursuit of material success with no nods towards his inner needs. His wife recounts the tale to her sympathetic audience after his death, which causes her to move to a new, smaller home in town from their half-century long country life on an apple orchard. She tells her cousin and his wife, who are helping her pack and move, the story of the year that almost ended the marriage most people thought was perfect.

I think the story of any well-lived life contains the passage that Mildred, our narratrix, recounts. It's instructive to be reminded of this in fiction as well as fact. All of us fallible humans can run off the rails, and it's often only after losing "everything" that we realize how much we really have that *can't* be lost, only thrown away.

The book breaks no new ground anywhere, but it takes the reader on its well-worn path with a pleasant tone and a loving heart. I can't recommend it to the cynical or the youthful, but anyone over 40 will recognize the situation and could probably benefit from a reminder of its perils and the tenuous nature of human relationships. Take care of them, feed them, prune them carefully, and a lifetime will seem too short.

[Carol Slater · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quaint story that did not take long to read. Mr. Davis does a wonderful job of telling a story within a story.
This was a reminder of days and stories gone by that items hold within but without someone who lived it, the item is just an item. Maybe something that your parents held dear for a real reason, but without knowing the story, you would throw it away when something happened to them.
A silver, aluminum Christmas tree bought from a Sears and Robuck catalog so many years ago, might seem like a waste of money, but this one has a note on it. What does that note mean? Only Mr. and Mrs. Jackson know what that tree represents. The memory that it invokes lead to the story we find in this book.
Mr. Jackson held a job and supported his family, but he was seeking something that money can't buy. He is succumbing to a boss that is purely out for himself, but knows the person that Mr. Jackson is and how he can use that to his advantage, but he truly doesn't know where the line will be ended.

[Rick Bavera · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story itself was interesting.

The story-telling left much to be desired....for me, at least.

I was expecting something along the lines of a Richard Paul Evans or Paulo Coelho tale. Something that teaches while at the same time making my soul soar. Made me feel good while teaching me something.

What I got was a tale that felt didactic and lecturing. At least, that is the way it came across for me.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book. full of warmth and family. I found a good line from this book by Thomas J. Davis in here it is. " For mercy everlasting Oh Lord we are Grateful.".

[Edie Kennard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super sweet book about learning to value the true gifts you have.

[Loraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

SUMMARY: The shiny aluminum tree was the symbol of everything he thought was right in their lives and everything she thought was wrong. It was 1958 and Jimmy Jackson had it all: a wife, two kids, and the promotion that was his ticket to success. Finally, he could afford all those things he had gazed at in the Sears Roebuck catalog. But now that he had the money, would he find that the true cost was more than he could pay?

REVIEW: A delightfully sweet reminiscence by an elderly widow of a rough patch in her marriage and it's restoration with the reminder of an aluminum Christmas tree. A reminder of the true values and spirit of both marriage and Christmas. I really enjoyed the short read and it's reminder of some other wonderful Christmas tales like Gift of the Magi.

[Krystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I once again had high expectations but was let down. This book had too much back and forth narration. It went from the present tense to past tense with little signaling transitions. Furthermore, for myself, it had too much dialogue. It's just not my prefered style of reading. It did have a good story line in the end that suited Christmas time.

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful book about an elderly woman remembering her deceased husband thru the years of their marriage some good and some not so good and the important part the aluminum Christmas tree played in saving their marriage. I actually read it as an ebook but that version is not listed.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good Christmas story, reminding me of what is REALLY important.

[Aldafan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really as much about Christmas as about a family in north Georgia in the 1950s. It was a gift, sweet book but probably not one I would have picked myself.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the story. I remember the aluminum Christmas trees well.