Family shares love with tradition

Friends and strangers gather to hang ornaments honoring loved ones.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Silent night. Holy night.
The words linger in the bitterly cold air, suspended in clouds of vapor that escape the shivering singers' mouths and then vanish.
This night is about people who are missing from the group gathered here on the west side of Cleveland, holding hands around an evergreen tree whose boughs are strung with white lights.
It's about those who have died, the estranged and friends far away.
But, mostly, Greg Johnson tells the group gathered outside his house last week, "It's about love.
"This is a time of year when whatever hostilities, whatever bad feelings you have, you have to set them aside. This is the time of year when giving, sharing and remembering are very important."
Meaningful ritual
One by one, the men and women surrounding the tree step forward to hang ornaments inscribed with the name of a loved one. The gold star at the top of the 8-foot tree glitters for "GQ," Johnson's son who died six years ago at 19.
GQ, Gregory Quentin Brandon Johnson, helped his dad erect their first "giving tree" about 12 years ago in a vacant lot off West 130th Street, in their old neighborhood. They patched together almost 200 feet of extension cords from the nearby St. Paul's AME Church to the tree, a glowing holiday invitation to the neighborhood.
There was no mass mailing, no posted signs, just word of mouth that drew dozens to the lot. Then, as now, anyone who wanted to share in the fellowship was welcome.
Since GQ died in the fall of 1999 of complications related to diabetes, Johnson, now vice president of the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, and his wife, Theresa, have continued the tradition in his memory on Edgewater Drive.
"He was a great kid," says Johnson softly. "It broke my heart when he died. His living and his passing gave me purpose."
Over the years, up to 200 people have assembled in small groups on the lawn of the Johnsons' Edgewater Drive home. Greg Johnson leads each group of about a dozen from the house to the tree, where they sing, hang their ornaments and share their stories.
Reflecting
Some choke up as they speak; more than a few shed tears.
Paula Bloch hung an ornament in memory of her husband, Manfred, who died last year. "I miss him. He gave me the world," she said.
This is the second year that Bloch, a colleague when Greg Johnson worked at the March of Dimes, has attended the "giving tree" ceremony.
"I just think that it's wonderful," she said.
"We get so wrapped up in shopping and the hustle and bustle of the holiday, we need to take some time to remember what's important. I'm thinking of my husband with such joy right now."
Johnson has never met some of those who came for Wednesday night's ceremony.
"But, trust me, in my heart, I love all of you," he tells the second group preparing to hang ornaments.
A young father talks about his battle to stay sober so that he can care for his two daughters. Another man mourns for his mother.
The tree remains up through Jan. 1, and anyone is welcome to add ornaments, Johnson said.
"It's really a celebration of gratitude," said Luis Vazquez, who hung an ornament in memory of his mother. "It's a chance to allow yourself to be; you have time for some reflection."