Saturday, December 1, 2012

Christmas Tree Shopping

We have a tradition in our family.  We put up our tree around my birthday, December 16th.  My mother did that when I was small to keep one from running into the other.  In the early days of our marriage we live in a 1968 house trailer - i.e. no room.  I also attended college and waiting until that date prevented additional stress for semester's end.  We also get a real tree.

We have had some doozies.  There was the year we didn't get a tree until December 23rd.  (Hubby swears it was December 24 but it was not!)  That tree made the Charlie Brown tree look like the Rockefeller Center's.  Another year someone told my husband about someone local that had nice trees, cheap.  That one smelled like pond water.  I spent the entire season spraying it with pine scented air freshener.

Our best tree ever was 1997.  That was the first Christmas in our new (current) house.  After years of small trees we were ready to go all out.  The farm we had bought from for several years had one they had groomed for their daughter's sorority house.  That sucker was 14' tall and perfect.  Someone else had given the sorority a bigger tree.  It couldn't have been a better one because this one was the epitome of Christmas trees.

They sold it to us for some crazy low price.  We brought it home and it took my husband and our two oldest sons to set it up.  It is a bit of a trick to work around the beams in our living room.  It was gorgeous.  Every year I try to duplicate it and every year I fall short.

Today we got this year's tree.  It was crazy.  It is December 1!  I work the next two weekends, though.  So we bit the bullet.  It was 60°F!  Of course, the tree we picked was as far away from the barn as possible and too big for the sled.  There are no boys home to help set it up.  One 5'4" middle aged woman does NOT work as well as a couple of 6' teenage boys.  We got it done.



It is only ten feet tall but frankly, I don't think my husband and I can handle much taller by ourselves.  Now, to decorate this thing.

My house smells wonderful but I really worry about having it in here for a month.  I know people do it but we never have.

How is your Christmas decorating coming?

Merry Christmas!

Mary