My name is Lauren, and I am a Who.
Yes, you heard me correctly. I’m a Who. I’m one of the Seuss-inspired little people with the bobble-shaped heads who dances around the Christmas tree in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
I’m the one buying gifts in mid-September, hanging decorations in mid-November and bellowing carols all throughout December. Yes, I know, I’m the annoying one — the one absolutely obsessed with Christmas.
It takes a certain kind of person to be a Who. A Who has to be optimistic, easily entertained and easily excited. A Who has to be constantly in the spirit, helping others smile during the holiday season.
But above all, a Who has to be patient. A Who has to wait every year for Christmas to come around and has to wait every year for his or her loved ones to join in the mood. (After all, not everyone gets as excited by peppermint mochas as we do.)
No one is as patient a Who as Columbia’s own Will Treelighter.
If you’re not from Columbia or don’t know Will Treelighter, then perhaps you haven’t heard of Columbia’s legendary holiday spectacle, the Magic Tree. Every year, this cherry tree lights up the heart of the Village of Cherry Hill with 40,000 multicolored LEDs.
Kids and parents gather around its trunk all throughout December, snapping pictures and throwing snowballs. It’s become a local tradition to visit the glowing tree at least once every year.
Will Treelighter (aka Randy Fletcher) is the Who responsible for the Magic Tree. He starts buying decorations in October and spends 50+ hours painstakingly covering the tree with row after row of bright baubles. Then he takes the extra time to write up a flier, a new one every year, for onlookers to read while they marvel at the sight.
Each flyer is a little different, focusing on a different aspect of the tree, a different view of spirituality, but all of them focus around one common theme: that the world is a beautiful place. One must stop and appreciate that beauty to feel connected to the people and places around him. One must “stop and smell the roses,” or in this case, lift his head and see the lights.
And isn’t that what Christmas is all about? Isn’t that the grand mission of a Who? The Magic Tree attracts everyone, from toddling children in beanies to old men in wheelchairs. All of them want a taste of that spectacular sight, so they can be reminded of what’s really important — the beauty of the world, and the people in it.
Will Treelighter knows what the Who life is all about. It isn’t about the Christmas cookies or the tacky sweaters or even the colored lights themselves. It’s about bringing people closer, each and every day, by reminding them of the beauty they simply take for granted.