My whole life I've had a fake Christmas tree. Until this year...
Not only did we get a real Christmas tree - but we got a real Christmas tree that Mr. T and I gathered from the great outdoors.
Here's the story:
Last Sunday we asked our good friend, Dick Neel, if there were any trees on his property that we could cut down and use in our house for our Christmas tree. He pointed us to the deep, deep woods and said, "You might find something in there!" So, out we went in search of the tree that would be part of our first Christmas together.
We went through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, past the candy cane forest (JK - had to put that in for all my fellow Elf fans.) But we did have to scale an electric fence and dodge about a zillion cow pies in order to get to the "tree lot"...where we went "shopping" for a tree...which we did not find...because there was not a single tree that would work.
So, back we went to the Neel's house and told Dick Neel about our dilemma and he said, "Wait'll I get my jacket and we'll go out and get us a Christmas tree." Once again we went to the same deep, deep woods. Mr. T and I were shaking our heads the whole time, trying to convince him that, "THERE ARE NO TREES OVER THERE!"
What do we know?
We saw several candidates. And then we rounded a bend that revealed THE tree - a great and glorious spruce.
We were warned before we went that the tree always looks smaller than you think it's going to be. Then you get it inside your house and it's huge. So, like good Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, we measured and cut off the top portion of the tree, hauled it back and set it up in the house.
Despite our efforts, the tree is quite large and fills up most of our living room.
Now, I've had Christmas fever for a long time and had been really looking forward to decorating for Christmas, but when the time came the feeling had faded. After searching, researching, measuring, chopping, hauling, setting up and straightening the tree, Mr. T said, "I think I'll go upstairs and lay down for a little while." That sounded like a good idea to me too, but I turned on the Christmas music, hauled out the decor and got to it.
My vote on real trees - I like them!
Sure I:
1. Sneezed for the first 24 hours.
2. Marveled at the fact that it's "normal" to set up a TREE in your HOUSE and decorate it.
3. Marveled even more that Mr. T and I followed this quirky tradition with flair and not only brought a tree into our home, but brought a HUGE-MON-GOUS tree into our home.
4. Felt kind of bad about ripping the tree out of the gentle hands of Mother Nature, just so we could save $30 bucks.
5. Worried for quite some time because the tree really did smell like cat pee.
6. Worried even more when a friend smelled our house, turned up their nose and said, "Do you have cats?"
7. Thought, upon completion of tinsel hanging, "That's more of a Christmas blob, than a Christmas tree."
But now my eyes have adjusted to its size
And my nose to its smell
And I really do love it...a great and glorious tree for our first Christmas!
Not only did we get a real Christmas tree - but we got a real Christmas tree that Mr. T and I gathered from the great outdoors.
Here's the story:
Last Sunday we asked our good friend, Dick Neel, if there were any trees on his property that we could cut down and use in our house for our Christmas tree. He pointed us to the deep, deep woods and said, "You might find something in there!" So, out we went in search of the tree that would be part of our first Christmas together.
We went through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, past the candy cane forest (JK - had to put that in for all my fellow Elf fans.) But we did have to scale an electric fence and dodge about a zillion cow pies in order to get to the "tree lot"...where we went "shopping" for a tree...which we did not find...because there was not a single tree that would work.
So, back we went to the Neel's house and told Dick Neel about our dilemma and he said, "Wait'll I get my jacket and we'll go out and get us a Christmas tree." Once again we went to the same deep, deep woods. Mr. T and I were shaking our heads the whole time, trying to convince him that, "THERE ARE NO TREES OVER THERE!"
What do we know?
We saw several candidates. And then we rounded a bend that revealed THE tree - a great and glorious spruce.
We were warned before we went that the tree always looks smaller than you think it's going to be. Then you get it inside your house and it's huge. So, like good Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, we measured and cut off the top portion of the tree, hauled it back and set it up in the house.
Despite our efforts, the tree is quite large and fills up most of our living room.
Now, I've had Christmas fever for a long time and had been really looking forward to decorating for Christmas, but when the time came the feeling had faded. After searching, researching, measuring, chopping, hauling, setting up and straightening the tree, Mr. T said, "I think I'll go upstairs and lay down for a little while." That sounded like a good idea to me too, but I turned on the Christmas music, hauled out the decor and got to it.
My vote on real trees - I like them!
Sure I:
1. Sneezed for the first 24 hours.
2. Marveled at the fact that it's "normal" to set up a TREE in your HOUSE and decorate it.
3. Marveled even more that Mr. T and I followed this quirky tradition with flair and not only brought a tree into our home, but brought a HUGE-MON-GOUS tree into our home.
4. Felt kind of bad about ripping the tree out of the gentle hands of Mother Nature, just so we could save $30 bucks.
5. Worried for quite some time because the tree really did smell like cat pee.
6. Worried even more when a friend smelled our house, turned up their nose and said, "Do you have cats?"
7. Thought, upon completion of tinsel hanging, "That's more of a Christmas blob, than a Christmas tree."
But now my eyes have adjusted to its size
And my nose to its smell
And I really do love it...a great and glorious tree for our first Christmas!
