Not that she’s into Christmas much. Between finishing a postgraduate degree at Harvard University and working for the New York City Department of Education, Johnson hasn’t given the holidays much thought. Besides, she’s not into Christmas bling; that’s more her mother’s thing.
But Minton is a photographer and a sentimentalist. He really wants a tree. A tree with lights and decorations, So, out of love, Johnson is out here with Minton on a Saturday morning on Broadway and 110th St. looking at Christmas trees, trying to keep warm.
There are big, bushy Fraser firs from North Carolina and teeny tiny table-top trees from Nova Scotia. But it’s the smell of a 6-foot Balsam fir that travelled more than 700 kilometres from a tiny village in Quebec that captures their fancy.
The tree is bundled and paid for and Sarah and James are halfway home with their first Christmas tree, when it hits her. This is for real.
