Selling Christmas Trees and Roman Candles, 1950

 

My older married brother, Willy, asked Kenny and me if we would like to help him sell Christmas trees. We said, “Sure we would love to help.”

Willy had gone into the woods and cut a number of cedar trees. We were going to sell them out of the back of his old Plymouth station wagon and an old trailer. The NAPA auto store had given him permission to use their parking lot after closing each day, as well as on Sundays.

Willy thought we also should try selling some fireworks. A lot of people in Arkansas shot fireworks at Christmas, New Years Eve, and the Fourth of July. Willy said his brother-in-law was a firework wholesaler, so we could buy them from him.

About ten days before Christmas we set up our display and started to sell Christmas trees. We priced the trees two dollars and fifty cents each. We also had several different types of fireworks to sell.

I said to Willy, “Why don’t we include a Roman candle with each tree for free.”

Willy looked at me and said, “Then we are only getting two dollars for each tree if we give away a Roman candle that sells for fifty cents. That is not a good deal for us.”

I said, “No, we can charge three dollars for our trees and that includes a free Roman candle. They will go for it, I am sure. Everyone likes a free deal.”

Willy said, “But our competitor down the street is selling his trees for two fifty, which is fifty cents less. The customers will go there for their trees.”

I said, “People like to get something free. I learned this from the tent evangelist who offered folks a free Bible if they attended his tent meetings for four out of five nights. It worked for him and I am sure it will work for us.”

So Willy gave in and said he was willing to let us try it for a while. We tied a Roman candle to the top of each tree. We pointed out to our customers that they were getting a Roman candle with their tree purchase.

A couple of days later, a big heavy man in a suit and tie stopped by to look at our trees. He said that he was a preacher at one of the Baptist Churches in town. He had seen our sign that said “Christmas Trees with a free Roman Candle- Celebrate Christmas.”

He told us that we were not being very Christian, offering our trees, to celebrate the birth of Jesus with a Roman candle as a come-on for a sale.

This took us by surprise. Willy looked at me. Kenny looked at me. I looked at the preacher. The “free Roman candle” was my idea, so I was supposed to come up with an answer.

I said, “Well sir, the Bible says that as Jesus lay in the manger, a bright star shined down on his birthplace. It brought the wise men to worship him.” “Yes, that is correct,” the preacher said. I said, “Well sir, we do not have a shining star to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but we do have Roman candles. If you buy a tree, you get a free candle.”

Then I said,”You can go outside on Christmas Eve, fire off your Roman candle and let your neighbors know that you and your family are celebrating Jesus’ birth.”

He looked at me, then Willy, then Kenny, then back to me. He said, “Son, I like that. I really like that. In fact, I would like to use it in my sermon this coming Sunday. Do you mind if I do?”

I said, ”No, sir, we are happy to help you spread the good word to all your neighbors.”

When he left, Willy said, “How did you ever come up with all that?”

I just grinned. I had learned some things from the tent evangelist.

I said, “We had better have a few extra trees and Roman Candles on hand next Sunday afternoon in case he uses my story in his sermon.”

On Sunday, after church, cars started pulling into our parking lot. People were telling us the wonderful story Pastor Smith had told them.  They too, wanted to share their faith. Some already had a tree at home, but they wanted to have one of those special Roman candles that Pastor Smith had held up in church for all to see.

Kenny started to say, ”They are not special, they are just Roman candles.” I stopped Kenny and said, “Yes, Kenny, they are special when people want them to be special. They want them for a special purpose.”

We sold everything we had in about thirty minutes. We said we would be back, again tomorrow evening, with more trees and Roman candles. “Be sure and tell your neighbors,” we said.

That Christmas the sale of Christmas trees went very well. We made a lot of people feel very special, and we made a lot of money helping them feel that way.

 

From my memoir, "The Boy on Shady Grove Road"

Clyde McCulley