First Christmas A trio of twenty something friends picks out a tree and prepares to enjoy their first holiday season in Bangor in the second installment of a continuing series

loading...

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a yearlong series of stories that will follow Jessamine Logan, Pia Lenane and Brooke Barter, three recent college grads who have moved to Bangor, as they settle into their new home. Photographer Bridget Brown and reporter Kristen Andresen will share the women’s stories online and in the pages of the Bangor Daily News in the coming months. For interviews, slideshows and other exclusive content, visit www.bangordailynews.com

Old Friends, New Lives Part 2

Jessamine Logan and Brooke Barter rose at dawn and walked down Hammond Street to the Y for a 6 a.m. spinning class. An hour later, they walked back up the hill to their apartment and settled in to their Tuesday morning routine.

As Jessie showered, Brooke set the table and poured Jessie’s tea into a striped mug from a melon-colored teapot. For herself, she pulled a jug of organic cider from the packed refrigerator and filled a matching mug.

“With four people living here, the fridge is a little small,” Brooke said. “It never was before.”

Brooke, Jessie and their roommate Pia Lenane – all recent college graduates in their early 20s -moved into the three-story, four-bedroom apartment in August. A job in U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ office brought Jessie to the Queen City a year ago after she graduated from Aberdeen University in Scotland. Her two childhood friends, who until recently had no ties to the area, joined her this summer.

In November, their friend Tim McGrath moved in, and other than the too-small refrigerator, it’s been a seamless transition. On this cold, sunny morning, he already had left for his job as an electrician, and Pia, who had the day off from veterinary-technology classes and her job in a veterinarian’s office, was still asleep upstairs.

Brooke crumbled brown sugar and drizzled milk on the steaming oatmeal. At the table, a handful of capsules and tablets waited at Jessie’s place.

“She even gives me my vitamins,” Jessie told a visitor, smiling.

“One’s an amino acid – fish oil – and there’s a multi,” Brooke explained.

Over breakfast, the great debate began. This would be the first year that any of the roommates had their own Christmas tree, and they had big plans to cut one down – it was only a question of when and where. Brooke had her heart set on driving to Houlton for a tree because her boyfriend is from The County, but Jessie wanted to stay closer to home.

As they ate, they hatched a plan: Jessie would take the afternoon off. Other than a meeting at 4, Brooke had the day off. So did Pia. Today, they would get their tree.

O Christmas Tree

By 1:30 p.m., a wicked wind whipped across the parking lot as the women piled into Brooke’s silver GMC Yukon, seat heaters in full effect. Their destination? Shamrock Ridge Tree Farm in Newburgh. As she drove south on I-95, Brooke flipped down her visor to reveal photos of her, Pia and Jessie, tanned from a summer in Boothbay Harbor – Jessie grew up there, and that’s where she met Brooke and Pia, who both spend summers in the midcoast village.

This year, they have grand plans for the winter months, as well, including a trip to the Can-Am Crown races in Fort Kent.

“Tomorrow, I’m investigating the dog sled races,” Jessie promised as they approached Shamrock Ridge.

The tree farm looked deserted as they got out of the SUV – which took a while because they were wearing so many layers – but soon the farm’s owner, Dennis Bradley, approached in an Army jacket and explained the prices.

Saw in hand, Jessie led the charge toward a shady grove of firs. “Have you ever done this before?” she asked her friends, who shook their heads and admired the knee-high trees.

“We could each put one in our own room,” Brooke said.

Soon, a nine-footer caught Pia’s eye.

“Look how tall this one is!” she exclaimed.

“How about this one?” Brooke said, pointing toward a shorter, fuller tree. “I want it big!”

“We want a big, fat one!” Jessie agreed.

The tall-and-skinny vs. short-and-fat debate raged on as they tramped across the frozen ground, stopping to consider one tree, and then another. Pia stood beside a tall tree, which looked full from every angle, but Jessie wasn’t convinced.

“Eeeeewwww,” she said, grimacing. “Look at the top of it.”

“I like it,” Pia countered.

“It’s derelict,” Jessie declared.

“Apparently we should get what Jessie wants,” Brooke said, rolling her eyes.

After another five minutes of haggling, they found a tree they could all agree on. Or, at least one they didn’t all hate. Jessie cut it down and the three of them carried it toward the car, where Bradley explained that they needed to keep it watered.

As they waited for him to wrap the tree in a net, another argument began.

“We’re getting white lights, right?” Brooke asked.

“I want colored,” Pia answered. “I know they’re ugly and gaudy, but I love ’em.”

“You can put colored lights in your room,” Jessie said. “You got to pick out the tree.”

“I didn’t pick out the tree – you picked out the tree,” Pia said.

“I have no say in anything,” Brooke said, laughing.

After Jessie wrote out a check for $28, Bradley grabbed a step stool and secured the tree to the top of the SUV.

“Keep it under 80,” he told the women with a smile.

They thanked him and piled back into the Yukon, where Brooke blasted the heat and cranked up George Michael’s “Last Christmas” on the radio. Pia and Jessie sang along as they sped toward Bangor:

“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. The very next day, you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I’ll give it to someone special.”

A new home for the holidays

“It’s perfect,” Jessie said a few hours later as she stood back and admired the fir. “I can’t believe I have a Christmas tree.”

Pia took a step back and raised an eyebrow.

“There’s a few bald spots, but once we put ornaments on, it’ll look all right,” she said.

But that would have to wait. Pia and Jessie knew Brooke’s grandmother had bought ornaments for the apartment, and they couldn’t wait for her to return so they could start decorating.

When she arrived, Brooke went upstairs and then returned to the living room with a small box full of 12 stuffed teddy bears, each wearing a different “month” sweater. Pia looked up from her homework, a smile spreading slowly across her face. She had seen these knickknacks before.

“Oh, the bears are the ornaments,” she said, laughing.

“The month bears are ornaments,” Brooke replied. “You’re telling me you want to spend money on ornaments?”

“No, but I thought there were, like, mad ornaments,” Jessie said, laughing.

“Well, maybe we shouldn’t do ornaments,” Brooke said.

“No, we should definitely do ornaments,” Pia said.

“You think the bears are hideous,” Brooke said, looking sad.

“No, I thought they were just weird bears that you put up every month,” Pia said.

Their fourth roommate, Tim, had returned from a long, cold day at work and he and his girlfriend, Nikki Fields of Monmouth, were curled up on the couch, ready to watch a movie. Instead, they watched the decorating debacle unfold.

Brooke started to take down the bears, but Tim jumped in.

“No, put them up,” he insisted. “I like the bears.”

“I think the bears are cute,” Nikki said, reassuringly.

In the corner, Jessie sat on the floor with a roll of gold wrapping paper, scissors and some cardboard to make a star for the top of the tree. It was a bit lopsided, as well, but like the bears, it stayed.

“Does it look that bad?” she asked.

“Who cares?” Pia said.

It was their first Christmas tree. A time to make their own traditions. And it didn’t have to be perfect – it just had to be theirs.