When I was little (and even now), our Christmas tree was really important to me. I don't know why this is. I've always loved trees in general - to make tree houses in, to swing on their branches, to hide under the low lying ones and enjoy the shade in summer - trees have always been special to me. This is probably why I don't think I could live in a well developed metropolitan area. Not unless I can afford a large estate with a lot of trees on it.
At Christmas, for a few years, our family would do the traditional thing and go to a tree lot and cut down our own tree. My dad actually did this the old-fashioned way: with an axe and hand saw. By the time I got to be 12, he had tired of that, and we started to buy trees from tree lots. It wasn't as meaningful, but at least we had a real tree for Christmas.
One year, things were a little grim. It was Christmas Eve and we still didn't have a tree! I was frantic about it and begged and pleaded with my dad to get a tree. Of course, just about every tree lot in town was sold out, but there were a few dried out and barren trees outside the local grocery store. Most of them looked as if they'd been cut down several weeks earlier. Someone had spray painted them in the hope of selling them at the last minute. We were one of those last minute customers. My dad and I came home with a tree that was spray painted pale pink. We paid $8 for it. Funny how I still remember that detail.
The pink tree was pretty bare on one side, but we turned it to the wall and decorated it, and it did fine for us that Christmas Eve and for a few days afterwards. Fortunately, it didn't catch fire. One can only imagine how flammable it was, all dried out and spray painted!
I think my dad felt bad about not getting a tree until the last minute that year. Soon afterwards, he joined the Lions Club and was selling Christmas trees from the Lions Club lot in the freezing cold. As for the old axe, I don't think it ever chopped down another tree.
Wishing you all much happiness this holiday season and in the new year.
Today is Dan's and my wedding anniversary. We really didn't have anything planned for today. Instead, over the weekend, we went out and picked out a Real Tree for our livingroom. It is, by default, our anniversary gift to each other.
I decided a long time ago that real trees were far more "green" than trees made from petroleum products (besides, they smell wonderful), so, we sought out a tree farm in our area and picked out the tree that we wanted. On the farm, we were met by an elderly German farmer who warned us that most people pick a tree that's too large for their house. He also noticed our old BMW and declared that Audis were better sellers in Europe.
Being an experienced tree-picker, I declared that if we could find a tree that was Dan's height, that would suit us very well. We have 9-feet tall ceilings in our house, and I felt certain that a tree that was just over 6 feet tall would work well in that space.
Well, we got our tree, and slung it into the trunk of the car where it dangled dangerously just above road level on the way home. Thankfully, we didn't have far to go.
The afternoon was spent shaping the tree and getting it into my old cast iron stand. The stand has stood the test of time and still is in great shape, with the exception of missing a couple of locking nuts. As it turned out, these were important to the general stability of the tree.
Several hours later, after digging through several plastic storage bins, the tree stood, proudly, in its stand, in one corner of the room, partially blocking the view of the television set. Sure, the height is fine - but the tree is FULL. And sappy. Still, proud of our accomplishment, we "let it go," determined to enjoy the tree more than our view of the television set, and called it a day when our eyelids were drooping and after I had wearied of cleaning up pine needles.
Dan went off to bed. And that's when we heard the Crash. Followed by the sounds of tinkling broken glass ornaments. I rushed into the livingroom and surveyed the carnage in front of me. The noise woke Dan from his slumber and he looked with dismay over the water-logged wreckage. We looked at each other. And laughed. We were too tired to cry.
The next day, we went to the hardware store to pick up the missing locking nuts, and spent no less than four hours detangling four strings of lights. The tree is now in the other corner - away from the television set, and shows no sign of falling over. It smells heavenly and now it feels like the holiday season at last. The great thing about having a wedding anniversary so close to the holidays is that it feels like the world is celebrating with you. Listen to the audio: [ 5.5 MBs]
Name: Melanie O. Home: Durham, North Carolina, United States About Me: Female, American health and beauty-conscious professional who has rekindled a childhood love of dolls. See my profile...
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