We got our tree Saturday! It was almost sixty degrees outside and we bought it from the Menards (home improvement store) parking lot…it wasn’t exactly a Norman Rockwell painting, but we got the job done.
When I was a kid, we always got a real tree. We bought ours each year at a Christmas tree farm. It was always freezing and the child-me felt like it took forever to find the perfect one. Conditioned to be tree-choosy, I used to make poor Naoto hold up dozens of trees each year for full inspection. I’d be cold, he’d be cranky…it wasn’t fun. So for the past few years, we’ve grabbed one, gave it a once-over, and as long as it was green and had branches, we bought it. And bonus points for the year we decided to stick it in the back seat instead of tying it to the roof of the car. I highly recommend the back seat method…it works for trees up to seven feet (even taller if you’re driving something larger than a Corolla!)
So, each year our tree is less than perfect, but I think that makes it more charming, right? When we put our tree up this time, we noticed that it looks straight from the front of the room, but it’s leaning desperately to the right if you look at it from the side…as long as it doesn’t topple over (crossing fingers) I’m going to be okay with a leaning tree. (If I keep lowering my standards, I’ll be satisfied with using a fallen pine branch for a Christmas tree by 2015!)
I tossed the lights on the tree on Saturday and I’m working on the ornaments today, so hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with some pictures of the finished tree. It is almost seventy degrees here today, so I’m going to have to really imagine those snowy scenes from the Christmas music!
kimberly ah 