Pa also said, "A person's got to take his chances or life will never come to nothing." He took his chances on the snake oil, but the fact that it never came to much hardly matters. A sentimental fellow, his favorite song was "When the River Meets the Sea." Pa was also an early , establishing the family tradition of the Christmas branch. Every year, he'd go out and vow to bring back a whole Christmas tree. He never had the heart, reflecting that the tree, if allowed to live, would remain for another hundred years. Alice thinks that sometimes Emmet even sounds like his Pa.