On many Christmas trees are decorations passed down through generations. Though many of are now faded or cracked, they still retain their essence and bring forth fond memories.
Maude Burns has such an artifact — but, in characteristic Maude fashion — more unique.
Burns stopped by the Register Monday with her cherished Christmas memento passed down from her Aunt Gertrude and dating back to sometime around 1900.
No, it’s not jewelry, or even an ornament.
Instead, Burns has an orange, conservatively estimated at 120 years old.
The orange is orange in name only, its hue now faded to a leathery brown.
Burns explained its history.
Aunt Gertrude grew up one of seven children in northern Missouri. “As poor as Job’s turkey,” Burns said.
At Christmas time, Gertrude’s parents, unable to afford much of a gift, instead would give each child a piece of fruit, usually a banana, or in her case, an orange.
“This was in the early 1900s,” Burns explained. “They didn’t exactly have a lot of stores around where you could get something like that.”
Gertrude’s siblings eagerly scarfed down their Christmas treats.
But she didn’t.
Burns suspects the brutal Missouri winter allowed the orange to freeze dry before it could spoil and decay in warmer temperatures.
Aunt Gertrude kept the orange through the years, even when her children had to move her to a nursing home, and sort through her leftover belongings.
“Don’t you dare touch that,” she implored.
Gertrude died about 20 years ago, and her descendants were given the option of claiming the antique fruit.
“Like my Aunt Gertrude, I’m kind of different myself,” Burns said.
She’s kept her aunt’s orange, pulling it out each Christmas.
