There would seem to be little room for what’s happening at Maple and Main Streets—after all, New Canaan’s Christmas tree traditions are well established.
The “littlest Christmas tree” in New Canaan appeared recently, as it has in past years, at Maple and Main Streets downtown. Credit: Michael Dinan
There’s the Exchange Club’s annual lighting of the Lou Moreno tree at Kiwanis Park, for example, and the Dec. 24 caroling by the tree at God’s Acre—a cherished tradition that the Civic League started exactly 100 years ago, according to the historical record.
Even non-tree decorating practices are fixed—the New Canaan firefighters’ precise, orally communicated tradition of decking the firehouse, or the wreaths affixed to public buildings such as Town Hall and the Post Office.
So when a tiny Christmas tree began to appear each December in a disused corner of the Center School Parking Lot about 10 years ago, it was a curiosity to passersby catching sight of it. Yet the little spruce is infused with the spirit of the holiday, and—just as had happened with an ill-fated predecessor (see below)—locals at some point took to leaving small gifts under the tree at the corner.
A close-up of the “littlest Christmas tree” in New Canaan. Credit: Michael Dinan
“It’s almost like a little sneaky Christmas tree,” said New Canaan’s Faith Kerchoff, one of those passersby. “Just the little quiet voice of someone saying ‘holiday tree’ and people in the neighborhood who drive by a lot know about it. It’s not a publicity thing, like the God’s Acre tree—just a cute little neighborhood thing.”
No one seems to know who installs the two-foot-tall conifer. Planted close to the southwest corner of Maple and Main Streets, it’s decorated with beads and Christmas ornaments, “fenced off” by a miniature barrier and circled by a full Nativity scene (figurines of animals, manger and at least one wise man).
Dubbed “Littlest Christmas Tree” or ‘LTC’ by some locals, it’s located conspicuously behind the stone retaining wall that skirts the corner opposite New Canaan Library—once the edge of Center School’s wondrous and rather violent playground.
Steve Gaeta, who has owned C&H Auto next door for more than 25 years, said the LTC started to appear as a kind of replacement tree.
“Here’s the backstory on that,” Gaeta told NewCanaanite.com. “Years ago, there used to be a little tree that sprouted out of the stone wall on the corner of Maple Street, where it goes up to the parking lot. Like this thing just started to grow out of the stone wall and people used to come by and decorate it and hang stuff there, and all of the sudden it disappeared” because it was starting to crack the retaining wall.
That disappearance apparently inspired someone to plant a young conifer each year.
“They just sneak in, in the middle of the night, and plant it,” Gaeta said. “It’s kind of a funny thing. One year they tried to have battery-powered LED lights on it. People see it and we get morning commuters who walk by the corner every day. It’s kind of a personal little thing and people get a warm feeling about it as they pass by.”
One of those is animal-loving New Canaanite Eloise Killeffer, who passes the tree on her regular walking circuit with Tuppence Killeffer, a Cocker Spaniel.
“It’s just so thoughtful and in such a great location—people going to the library will see it and I thought it was just a really nicest thing, and such a counterpoint to the tree up on God’s Acre,” Killeffer said.
She added: “That is just a very New Canaan thing to do, to put lovely little touches in the most unexpected places.”
I love this little tree and I am almost sorry that you published this article. I liked the “little secret” aspect, and I hope we don’t come to find out who is behind it. It is a Christmas mystery!