Nice essay, ER. Perhaps the archetype of the tree comes from having evolved in them?

I too shared a fascination with the Christmas Trees of my youth, enthralled by the depth of the sculpture, always placing decorations deep into the gaps between limbs.

I was also curious about how the lights worked. Perhaps it was the only time that I saw the wires that made lights work and wanted to know more about them. My curious mind wanted to know why removing a bulb turned off all the bulbs. These thing were explained to me but I still didn't know what electricity was.

When I was five, give or take, I found out when I removed a bulb and stuck my finger into the empty socket. Yikes! I can still remember the feeling of the electrons vibrating at 60 cycles coursing through my fingertip, even though it was only in the socket for a fraction of a second.

No, the experience did not really teach me what electricity was; but it taught me what it felt like and to respect it. Something was moving through those wires, and it was dangerous.