Along a stretch of the Animas River Trail stands a spruce tree with red décor, exuding that true Christmas spirit.

Red ball ornaments, candy canes and other decorations hang delicately on the pine branches. What makes the tree special is it started from virtually nothing. It was very much a “Charlie Brown Christmas” tree, as Debra Garcia put it, with pine needles clinging to the branches, at risk of falling off the minute someone touches it.

Like the tree in the 1965 holiday show, this north Durango tree just needed a little love to become special. Like the tree in the classic television event, this north Durango tree gradually became special and soon embodied that deeper meaning of serving others during the Christmas holiday season.

“I’ll tell you, people really enjoy walking by and seeing the decorations,” she said.

The city of Durango even instilled a fence surrounding the tree to ensure wildlife cannot intrude on it.

Debra’s husband, Kris, and her 95-year-old mother, Margot Snyder, started building the tree in 2018 when it was just pine needles and some cotton wool. More than five years later, the tree glows red and is a far cry from its initial state.

“It’s grown a good six, seven feet at least. It’s really filled out,” Kris said. “ … It’s just something that we do because the holiday is so important to (Margot), and I just wanted to support her. It’s something we plan on doing as long as we can.”

Margot suffered a stroke in March 2018. As she recovered, Kris took her on walks every day to help her through that recovery process.

Walking down the Animas River Trail near the east side of the river right before Christmas, they noticed a little tree in dire need of attention.

Margot wanted to decorate it, so she and Kris started working on it. Bit by bit, they added decorations and turned it into something magical.

Kris said he was concerned the first year after the tree’s inception that someone would steal ornaments. But it turned out his worries were for naught.

“It has never been an issue,” he said. “Nobody bothers it at all.”

Rather, people only stopped by the tree to add more ornaments every year.

For Margot, a Mannheim, Germany, native, decorating a Christmas tree is a big deal. Back in the 16th century, Germany became the first country to celebrate decorating Christmas trees as part of the regular Yuletide festivities.

“It’s a big, big thing in Germany,” she said. “Christmas is one of the most beautiful things. It’s home.”

Today, Margot also sees more fundamental good coming out of her own little family tradition.

“Especially now, the way the world is now, we put some smiles to other people,” she said. “ … I’m getting older and older and older, so we don’t know how much longer I can go on and do it. But we do it as long as we can.”

mhollinshead@durangoherald.com