… yes, Christmas.
After a couple of years of serious slackage regarding Christmas decor, we pulled out all the boxes and went hog-wild yesterday afternoon. All with the aid of …
… our new Christmas tree.
Yes, we have joined the ranks of the Artificially Treed. Given our normal December schedules and time in California, joined with our Twelfth Night party some time in January, having an artificial tree makes a lot of sense. Living trees can only tolerate a brief time indoors here (since they think it’s spring and start in with the new growth, with disastrous results when they are returned outdoors), and cut trees are a fire hazard after a few weeks.
So, Margie and I had been shopping for an artificial tree for a while. On Wednesday, after she picked up her folks, they did some shopping for it, and managed to stumble onto a bargain-fargain at Hobby Lobby on a floor model, 7.5-foot tree with lights and everything.
We put it up yesterday, and decorated it. It took nearly all of our ornaments (something that’s never happened before, but when it was all done …
… it looked fabulous.
I’m sure it’s all part of deep-seated memories of Christmas and all that, but seeing the tree, all lit up and decorated and all, made me feel all mooshy inside. Like Christmas wasn’t a big shopping hassle and travel hassle and gift-opening hassle, but a really special time.
Garsh.
And Kitten liked it, too.
We almost went artifical this year as well, but decided for one last “fresh” year – mostly because we really love the older gentleman who sells us our fresh cut trees. The artifical trees are looking pretty darn good nowadays anyway – you can barely tell.
I love the notion of a pre-lit tree too. If I never have to hear Tim griping about the tree lights again, I’m sold 🙂
The one we got was really nice, in terms of lighting density (and the lights ran up the branches, too, in a way you could never do with a real tree).
I was concerned about going artificial in front of my father-in-law, who regularly buys a 15-foot cut tree for their house, but he not only agreed it made sense for us, but was very pleased by the quality and appearance of what we got.