A Year of Blogging: December 19, 2011

December 19 was 'Look for an Evergreen' day. If you are looking for a real Christmas tree, December 19 is the day to do it. Although, if you're waiting until 6 days before Christmas, you're probably a bit of a procrastinator. You should not delay any longer, or you may end up with a tree worthy of the Peanuts gang. I've never had a real tree. My parents have had an artificial tree for as long as I can remember. Mom doesn't like the mess that a real tree causes with the needles dropping. Real trees bother my allergies. The tree we had for most of my childhood was one that Mom bought on clearance at Montgomery Ward after Christmas. I was about 3 and my sister was 1. Mom said the sales person offered her an extra discount on the floor model if she undecorated it. My sister was in her stroller, and I helped Mom take all the ornaments off the tree so it could be ours. We had that tree until I was a teenager. Not bad for an after Christmas special on a floor model! When we bought a new store, we went to this craft store that had a big Christmas section. We selected a beautiful tree. The display tree was on the wall, and it looked much bigger than the tree actually was. Our old tree had been a six foot tall tree, the new one was barely five. We didn't realize that though until we got home and tried to put the tree together. Mom was working on the Friday after Thanksgiving, so Dad and my sister and I put up the tree. Dad and I were surprised that is was much smaller than the old one. My sister took one look at the bottom of the tree. The branches were touching the ground. She wailed "There's no room for presents!" and ran upstairs. My dad's best friend stopped by about this time, and got a kick out of my sister's reaction. He said he could fix it. He went home and came back a little later with an old wooden box. It was large enough and sturdy enough to support the tree, and raised it off the ground high enough that we could put presents under the tree. We wrapped the tree skirt around the box, and it worked just fine. I like to sit near the tree with a cup of tea and just look at it. I love Christmas trees. I noticed from the window that our neighbors across the street have a beautiful tree. I'd love to get to see it up close. For me, there's something magical about a Christmas tree. And that magic remains whether I'm looking at an artificial tree or a real one. Even if my allergies allowed me to have a real tree, I don't think I would. The beagles would be sniffing it all the time determining how many squirrels had ever sat in the tree! I suspect the tree would have difficulty staying upright!