TREES AND DO-OVERS

The 2nd Day of Christmas 

The biggest Christmas controversy  - fresh vs fake.  There are some very strong opinions on both sides.  I spoke to a woman at church Sunday and told her we were going to get our tree that afternoon.  "What fun!" she said and we went on to discuss how nice the smell is and how much fun it is to have the experience of cutting your own.  Then her voice lowered and she rolled her eyes and said  "We have a fake tree... but it's what works for us right now."  My guess is, she must have married someone on the artificial tree side.  Poor girl, those mixed marriages can be difficult!

I am in the fresh tree camp.  I have memories of running around the tree lot in my hometown of Tulsa with my brother and mom looking for the perfect tree.  The weekend after Christmas was the tradition.  I can still picture the living room at my grandparents house at Christmas in detail.  My grandmother always had a fresh tree that was flocked. (Do they even do that anymore?)  

We have had our Charlie Brown years.  Here is a tree circa 2007 that we cut from our yard when we lived in the New Hampshire woods.  Actually, it is only a limb cut from a 30 foot pine, thus the leaning and lopsided growth.  Those branches were not meant to be horizontal.  But it has character and we laughed.

We also had a fun experience one year and drove into the mountains near Estes Park and took a sleigh ride into the woods to search for the perfect tree.  They provided hot chocolate and a saw and we did the rest.  Not so easy, but memorable.  

When we were newlyweds we purchased a fresh tree from a tree lot in Arkansas.  Tim was graduating from college the week before Christmas and we would be moving to New York but we just couldn't skip having a tree.  The really fun part is, that since we were leaving before Christmas we found a young family in married student housing that could not afford a tree and we gave them the whole thing - stand, lights and all.  They were thrilled.

This year we went to a local nursery and found a full, fat, lovely Noble Fir.  

Molly couldn't decide which tree she liked best.

We made our selection and had it tied to the top of the car.

It now sits in our living room, with it's lovely smell, waiting to be decorated.

If we can just keep the dog from eating it!

We have had some unresolved Thanksgiving issues in our home since our trip to Las Vegas.  We needed closure so we had a Thanksgiving Do-Over on Sunday afternoon.  Las Vegas was memorable but we just couldn't wait a whole year for turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, so while the boys were putting up Christmas lights outside, I had a turkey in the oven.

Here is our Norman Rockwell shot.

Now we are satisfied and can give Christmas our full attention.