Well, I finally broke down. I swore I would never do it, I swore I was a purist, and I could never abide anything less than the forest-fresh boughs of pine on which to hang my precious ornaments, and yet I have caved. It seems to be the year of caving. First, I settled for carpet instead of hardwood, then I let there be a TV in our bedroom, and now, now most heinous of all; now we have an… I can barely say it… We have an… artificial Christmas tree. AAAAAAGH!
Loud stage-whisper: Shhhhh! And do you know what? I LOVE it!
It doesn’t shed needles all over for the newly (barely) mobile baby to shove in her mouth. It is not a fire-hazard. It pops out of the box in three pieces, and opens like a Dr Seuss umbrella, lights and all! It looks darn real, including pinecones on some of the branches! My ornaments remain happily sap-free! I didn’t cut my hands to dickens putting on the strings of lights! I don’t have to remember to water it, which I never did with the real ones, anyway!
All my life we have cut out tree down- it’s a serious family tradition, and one I really wanted to carry on with my children. Ah, but reality comes crashing in- I grew up in California, and when you go cutting your tree, you take a pretty drive in the mountains, put on a windbreaker with your sunglasses and saw your pretty tree down. Here, in the great northwest, when we headed out early Friday morning to cut our tree, it was below freezing, we had a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a baby with us, and when we got to the tree farm, there was ice on the puddles, snow on the ground, and we had to hike about a mile to get to the area of trees. DH and I looked at each other, put the saw down, and got back in the warm truck.
So off we went to Lowes. Where the tree’s were $59! DH and I looked at each other, looked at the kids bouncing around like wild beans, and got back in the warm truck.
Hey, I’ve got an idea! You go home with the kids, I’ll take this awesome coupon for this national craft store, and I, alone, will go and buy our tree! Great! It’s a deal!
And that’s how we ended up selling out, and saving a tree. I figure in about 4 years, the Faker will have paid for himself, and he already has, 3 times over, in my sanity.
Totally love the fake tree thing, although I had a problem our first year of doing it. But it is soo awesome, the only thing I miss is the smell. If you really feel guilty, tell yourself you’ll get a real one when the kids are older.
Plus, real trees are so expensive, year after year after year. It was our first year of marriage, and that was the kicker for me. I could not justify the cost. Youare just being frugal.
try a live wreath as it gets closer to Christmas day. No shedding, the lovely smell, and you get to keep the pros of the fake tree. Plus I hear glade has some pretty realistic smelling candles now. But I was a purist too. Until $100 was the lowest price for a good live tree. That year the sale on our fake tree won us over. Hey you can’t beat 35 bucks for prelit, pop up tree that looks like the real thing.
We haven’t had a tree for…well, this year will be the 4th Christmas with out one. We just are not home to enjoy a tree, so we enjoy other peoples trees. The point will come when we will be home for Christmas, (it has to right?) and we will probably end up getting a fake tree for the ease of things or a really short tree. I saw advertised that Kmart has a fake tree with the big lights on it…the big lights fill me with childhood memories.
Yeah!! That is great. Now just go buy a really nice pine scented candle (Walmart has really good ones) and buy a “real” wreath for the door if you need it.
We already had to break down… on account of the 3 week stretch we’re going to be out of town over the holidays (talk about a potential fire-hazard). But I do miss the smell of real trees. There’s nothing else like it.
We’re not there yet. But I hear you on the “tree-cutting in the Northwest” experience!! We have found a primo spot, though. At the farm we go to, three or four young men will follow you to the tree you want, cut it down for you if you want (or watch, half-amused, while you do it), and then they haul it back up to the barn, put it through a shaker, twine it, and voila! Then we go inside the large barn, where they have seating and a huge fire going and they give you free hot cocoa and candy canes. The trees are reasonably priced, too. I’m not sure if we’ll every be fully motivated to go with an artificial tree, but I’m very glad you’re enjoying yours!!
Hey, whatever you have to do to make things more enjoyable, right? We had great weather this year for our tree cutting but we’ve had some freezing situations too. Muddy ice puddles, freezing arctic wind. Lots of fun.
We lucked out this year. We got our (live 6 ft) tree for 29.99 at our local grocery store. We had to cut the bottom off the tree ourselves, but that wasn’t so bad.
This is our first year with a big tree. In years past, we’ve paid 25-35 for a 4ft tree. So I’m excited about this one.
Now I just have to get it set up before the baby comes… (any day now).
We hav eto have a fake one- allergies from my son. But we also love it. Well, my husband doesn’t but he’ll get over it one day.
Aw Tracy! I could never do that! But, hey, I can completely understand why you had to do what you had to do! LOL!! Here, we’ll probably have 2 trees- a fake one (that’s more formal) and the real one (that’s for the family). Don’t worry- I won’t judge ya for selling out on those poor cold trees out there that need a nice, warm home! No judging here! LOL!!!
I’m sure Christmas will be Christmas no matter what kind of tree you have! Christmas is in the heart! Ooh! I’m getting the butterflies now!
A few pine scented candles and you’ll be good to go!
I found you through Blogher – love the site! Any interest in a blog entry or link exchange?