Sometime during the night before Christmas Eve, an 80' hemlock tree fell onto our deck, brushing down the side of the house, leaving some branches on the roof but not breaking any windows. Everyone had trouble going to sleep that night because of the noise of the wind. 50 - 60 mph gusts made sounds like a train coming up the hill from below. Maybe around 3:30 in the morning, according to Meg and Jason the house seemed to shudder a bit from an especially strong gust, and Ollie started crying. They went in to check on him but didn't turn on the light. All seemed to be well and he settled down again in about 10 minutes. At the other end of the house, Peter and I never heard anything at all. When we got up the next morning and went out to see Ollie, our first realization of what happened was when we saw the deck just beyond the sliding glass doors completely filled with hemlock branches. Even Jason hadn't realized what a close call Ollie had until he went in to get him up in the morning and saw branches on the low roof, and then the tree lying on the deck below Ollie's window. It's frightening to think of what might have happened had the tree been just a few feet closer. Photos make clear what was really a Christmas miracle.