Xmas story from the field

Allan Hanson (HANSON@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU)
Thu, 22 Dec 1994 22:49:22 -0600

Christmas, 1963 -- Rapa, French Polynesia. After many months of
anticipation, we managed to embark from Tahiti and sail (on a barge) to
Rapa, arriving a week later. Christmas was almost upon us, and
culture-bound as we were, we determined to put us a tree, complete with
decorations. This was accomplished by scouring up an ironwood tree
branch, really very graceful with its long grey-green needles.
Wrapped, brightly-colored hard candy made perfect decorations, and we
festooned the tree with them. Perfect! A real Christmas! The next
morning, we awake to dicovered the most god-awful mess. The candies had
melted all over the tree and formed a sweet sticky pool on the floor. Oh
well, there was still the tin of fruitcake given to us by kindly
missionaries before we left Tahiti. Opening that on Christmas morning,
we discovered it was empty but for a few crumbs....surelygmymmmq(uzwS