How Noble Fir Became a Christmas Tree

How Noble Fir Became a Christmas Tree

How Noble Fir Became a Christmas Tree
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 3 to 4
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	5.71

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		glorious, mid-summer, atop, lowest, lower, purpose, easily, blue-green, mighty, celebration, roots, southern, birth, view, limbs, certain
	content words:		Noble Fir, Burnt Mountain, Cascade Range, Little Noble, Rimrock Lake, Clear Lake, Tieton River, Gracie Grand, Middle Ages, Only Noble

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How Noble Fir Became a Christmas Tree
By Joyce Furstenau

¹     Three winters had passed before the Noble Fir cone began to fall apart. Melting snow watered the tiny seeds released from deep inside the cone. Spring sunshine warmed the earth, and the seeds began to open. By the next spring, little Noble Fir tree had begun to grow.

²     Little Noble drank in the moisture from the melting snow, and his roots dug into the ground. Noble Fir was very happy growing up on the southern slope of Burnt Mountain in the heart of the Cascade Range. Even though he was barely three inches tall, Noble was a handsome little sprout. He enjoyed the extraordinary view from his home on the mountain. Little Noble could see Rimrock Lake, Clear Lake, and the mighty Tieton River, all without moving a branch.

³     Noble Fir had lots of relatives living nearby. He liked visiting with his cousins who lived all around him on Burnt Mountain: there was the Douglas family, the Grand family, and the Pine family. It was during one of these visits that Noble Fir learned about one of the finest jobs a fir tree could ever hope to have.

⁴     Gracie Grand, one of his nearest cousins, told him about her dream to become a Christmas tree for a loving family. Gracie told Noble that the Christmas tree had been one of the most important symbols of this celebration since the Middle Ages. She said the Christmas tree was still at the center of Christmas celebrations today. Gracie shared the Christmas story with little Noble and told him how the birth of the Christ child is celebrated in many homes across the land. She told him about the star that is often placed atop the tree in honor of the star that led the three wise men to Bethlehem.

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