A "REAL" Tree For Christmas

I'm not sure exactly what happened.  It was a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving and I was out and about in town, getting a few last minute things before the "crazy" of Black Friday arrived.  I had already been listening to my Christmas CD's for several weeks and I must admit that those tunes tend to affect my spirits in a most positive manner.  Whatever the case, I glanced over and saw it...was suddenly mesmerized by it...and the thought took hold at that very moment; I HAD to have a "REAL" Christmas tree this year.

It has been MANY years since I have purchased a "real" Christmas tree for my home.  When Robby and I were first married, it was a tradition to do so, including the Charlie Brown Christmas tree that we had one year due to the fact that money was tight and we were forced to wait until the last minute to buy one.  I believe, at some point we morphed into the "artificial tree mode" when I announced that I thought "real" trees were causing me to have difficulties with my allergies.  Now, absolutely nothing has changed with my allergies, but for some reason when I passed those beautiful live trees this year, I saw glistening, magical stars.  Whipping my car around almost in the middle of the road to go check them out, Caitlin thought I had lost mind..."What are you doing?", she asked.  Unlike my boys (who never question why I do anything...), I find that the girl not only questions why I'm doing it but also tries to reason with me not to do some things.  Well, that was not going to happen this time...that tree had some sort of magical powers and I found myself completely under its spell!


As I walked through the tented area where the trees were set up, I breathed in the woodsy smell.  Finding a gentleman who worked there, I inquired about the price of a 9 foot tree.  OK, so I had determined if the tree cost too much, I probably wouldn't get it.  But HEY!  It was a "tree"...how much could one reasonably ask for a "tree"?  Upon finding out how much the tree cost, I deemed it "not too much" and also found out that I could have it delivered to my house for FREE!  The next step was to call Robby and ask him what he thought about the idea of getting a "real" tree this year.  Well, as I said, the guys in this family pretty much never tell me my ideas aren't good and he was not opposed to the idea if that was what I wanted (ahhh...words I love to hear), however, Caitlin attempted to thwart my little magical tree experience by reminding him that, "We will all be sick, Dad". I caught him frowning at her and pointing his finger as he said, "If she wants a 'real' tree, she can have a 'real' tree."  Satisfied that was settled, I smiled and she finally resigned herself to the fact that I was going to get the tree and she had been officially over ruled.

After the twenty-two people had left from my house after a filling Thanksgiving lunch and all the dishes were cleaned and put away, I decided to call the Christmas tree store and see if they were open.  Finding out that they were, I asked Caitlin and Sarah if they would like to ride with me down there to pick out "my" tree, pay for it and set up a delivery time.  We arrived, hopped out of the car and found out what color the 9 foot trees were tagged with and immediately headed over in that direction.  There was a lady there obviously having a difficult time deciding which tree she wanted for her own.  Seeing us making our way to the same area she was in, she cast a quick glance my way and pointed out the one she wanted.  HEY!  There were plenty of trees to go around; I wasn't going to choose "hers".  It didn't take me long to find the most beautiful, perfect "real" tree I had even seen.  I paid for it, gave the man my address and watched as he placed my name on a tag, hung it from one of the branches and pulled it to the back.  The next day I would have my "real" tree...I was as excited as a kid in a candy shop!

I never do the "Black Friday" thing the day after Thanksgiving, instead I work on decorating my house for Christmas.  So awaking Friday morning, I poured myself a cup of coffee and began to drag only a portion of my decorations out of the attic. I knew my tree would not be arriving until after noon, so I decided to decorate my tables, mantles and front door.  Caitlin got busy making my new wreaths and I busied myself...and very impatiently waited for my tree.

Lunch time came and went and I watched the clock...still no tree yet.  The guys turned on the LSU football game and we watched as the Tigers ate pork as their post Thanksgiving snack.  All of a sudden the dogs began to bark and the doorbell rang...MY TREE HAD ARRIVED!  Two men came in and set it up as I gazed at it in awe.  It was absolutely beautiful!  I hadn't had a "real" tree in years and now I was anxious to get the lights on it and all of my ornaments that would tell the tales of not only Christmases past, but our lives as well.  Did I mention that I LOVE Christmas?!