.....O Christmas tree

Yogis,
Getting ready for the holidays is a month-long event. Each week holds certain activities on the to do list that have to happen. Putting up the lights……hanging a wreath…..digging out the cookie tins…..buying the wrapping paper….sending a tip to the paper delivery guy. This week’s calendar included a day for getting the Christmas tree.

What a funny thing. Heading to a temporary lot set up with a sea of different trees, selecting the one that is right, tying it to the top of the car and bringing it home where it will take up residence inside the house for a few weeks. But how is it that we know which is the right one?

When I was growing up, our ‘right’ tree was always one that was not too tall, quite thick and definitely Christmas tree shaped.  We had a vision in mind and were particular that the tree matched that image. That job often fell to me and my dad.  

I have memories of us heading out in the dark after he got home from work. We would stand up every tree in the lot and more than once did not find the right tree. On we would go to the next lot. And so on…… One year I think we even went home treeless and tried again the next day. We knew what we wanted and weren’t going to settle for just any tree.

I carried this with me into marriage much to the chagrin of my family. Being a mom of three boys, every tree that was stood up for our inspection looked perfect to them. No one shared my need to find just the right one. They would humor me for a bit but if the shopping started to become extended they would begin to wrestle and bicker with each other forcing a quick decision.

For a couple years I thought it would be a good idea to make tree shopping part of a family outing and would head an hour north and add in some holiday activities and a lunch. The trees were a little less expensive and it would put us in the Christmas mood. That only lasted until the year we pulled onto the highway and one of our sons was literally sobbing in the backseat that they didn’t want to go. U-turn. Ho, ho, ho.

I watched other families as they arrived at the fire station Monday night. Some do as we do and look at several trees. Others say yes to the first tree put in front of them. Some want tall, some want narrow. Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Frasier fir. Everyone has an opinion. Are they also making their decisions based on their upbringing? Are my childhood friends who always had the very skinny tall trees with only white lights now sitting in front of one of those in their own homes?

I have mellowed a bit. The tree should be about nine feet tall, have a nice shape and no gaping bare spots. Typically, I can select a tree from four or five we are shown. My idea of right has softened and each year as the tree sits with me in the great room and wraps me in the smell of a forest, I fall in love every time.

I have also dropped tinsel from my repertoire,
SARAH