This is how the tale of two trees began.

This year's Christmas on Campus (COC) tree'the large one by which opening ceremonies are held'was going to be a donation from the Naone family. Jenna Naone graduated from UD last year, and she wanted to donate the tree in memory of her mother, Doris, who died in a car accident in August.

Members of the COC committee went out to the Naones' house last Friday, in the cold and wind, with two companies who planned to cut down the tree and bring it to campus. Lisa Monnot, a member of the outdoor decorations committee, described what happened during the attempt to lift the tree.

'The whole top of the tree just popped off,' Monnot said. 'The whole tree actually fell onto one of the company's trucks.'

She said they have not been able to figure exactly what happened that led the tree to snap.

'It had nothing to do with the weather,' she said. 'We really don't even know why it happened. We think it was kind of a miscommunication between the two companies that we were working with.'

Momentarily baffled, the COC committee members knew they wanted to bring the tree back to campus nonetheless. The Naones were having family come in to Dayton to attend the ceremonies, and the committee members recognized the importance of this tree to the family, Monnot said.

They phoned Facilities Management and asked if there was a way to put the tree up in KU Plaza, where the main tree has been in the past. They had planned to move the main tree to Humanities Plaza this year.

'They went out there immediately and started digging a hole,' Monnot said, 'which was awesome.'

To find a new tree, the outdoor decorations committee only had to consult their original list. Dale Huffman of the Dayton Daily News puts an article in the paper each year about COC, and many people respond to the request for trees, Monnot explained.

'We had 85 people call and offer their tree,' she said.

They settled on a tree donated by Robin Oldfield, the director of environmental health and safety at UD. Adam Schuster and Drew LaFramboise, the other outdoor decorations committee members, went to check out the tree and decided it would work. Some Facilities Management employees attempted to reshape the original tree Tuesday so a star could be put on top.

'We weren't planning on decorating [in KU Plaza],' Monnot said.

She said they brought lights over to decorate the plaza, and the tree will be decorated as well. They also plan to have an ambulance and fire truck over there to give people a reason to go over and see the tree.

Monnot said that two years ago, the COC tree was too large and fell over while it was in KU Plaza. There had never before been an incident with cutting down the tree and bringing it to campus, however.

'The crane company that we worked with, they said that this has never happened before,' Monnot said. 'So we don't know what happened.'

She is looking forward to having opening ceremonies in Humanities Plaza for a change.

'Opening ceremonies is going to be a lot better in Humanities just because it's so open and there's so much more space,' she said. 'And that's ... the center of campus now.'

Liz Sidor, a COC publicity co-chair, agreed.

'There's so much more space this year that we can fit so many people around the tree,' she said.

Sidor also said that after the adopted children are returned to the buses, there will be pizza, hot chocolate and coffee around the tree in Humanities Plaza, and they plan to have Christmas caroling as well.

The plaza has been decorated entirely in white lights, except for the colored lights on the tree, to make it clear that it is the main tree. Monnot and Sidor were not worried about people being confused by the two trees, though.

'It'll be cool to have two trees this year, I think,' Monnot said. 'They've never done it before.'

Opening ceremonies will begin tonight at 6 p.m. in Humanities Plaza.