I put up our Christmas Tree yesterday. It’s a fake. Jesse and I get into an argument about this every year. He is a Christmas Tree Purist.  Not only does he get a real tree every year, he actually goes into the woods and cuts one down.

When I was a kid, I used to trek into the woods and do the same with my mom & step-dad. I hated it!  Cold, wet, and all to get a scruffy looking tree. Then it had to be shaped, trimmed and turned a certain way so the “bad side” was against the wall. More than one Christmas we had the tree tied to a wall or worse falling over.  You haven’t lived until you’ve spent a half an hour holding up a fully decorated tree while someone tries to find something to tie it to. And don’t even get me started on the pine needles!  Everywhere – constantly falling – impossible to clean!

My tree on the other hand, looks nice every year.  I go and get it out of storage, put it up and string the lights a level at a time so it looks great. I can put it up as early as I like without worrying about it dying.  It’s nice and full top to bottom without patchy spots, and the best part is – no trekking through the snow!  Plus my girl’s cats don’t eat it.

I miss the smell of pine, but I’ll never go back.