We Got Our Tree!

I must admit that as much as I adore Christmas, it is coming FAST this year! I guess it's because Thanksgiving fell so late this year but it just feels like I've had no time - and it's already 2 weeks til Christmas. It's even a wee bit hard to get fully enmeshed in the spirit of the holidays because I feel like I'm constantly on the go. Oh well, though, right? Christmas is coming whether I'm festive or not! So I'd better get going, eh?

I was sick all last weekend and didn't feel like doing a thing but I was determined to get our tree. Robert needed ample time to work in the lights on Saturday so that I had ample time to decorate it on Sunday. I did NOT want to have to decorate in bits and pieces after work each night. Terribly unfestive. So, I dragged myself up at around 4 and we headed to a lot in Newark to get our tree.



Robert looks for a tree with the bottom line in mind. I look for the most deformed and abandoned tree in need of love. My own Charlie Brown tree, if you will. This year, though, there were not very many gimpy trees - I was hard pressed to find one that had just a smushed side or anything like that. However, while I was looking Robert spotted a 7-footer with a yellow tag. This was his tree. I knew it. He was very excited because, though most of the 6+ foot trees had green tags and the smaller trees had the yellow tags, he'd found a tall one with a short tag. I knew he wanted it. Bad. He tried to protest and tell me that I could keep looking around, but I knew he really wanted that one. Plus, when a family started making their way toward the row of trees where that tree was, I could see Robert's eyes darting back and forth from me to them. When I finally put him out of his misery and told him I was OK getting that tree, he yelled "You have to go stand by it!!" So I did. And we got the tree. My favorite part? The yellow and green tags were not indicative of price differentials. We got charged exactly what we would have had the tree's tag been green. :o) Hee. But it was still cheaper than our tree last year, so Robert was able to walk away a happy man. It was a win-win. Hooray!

We have the world's largest stinking tree stand. It's a monster! It's a bit hard to maneuver from the living room to the kitchen at Christmastime. Totally worth it, though.


Our lights - all 2,000 of'em. Whee!!


The tree may not have been outwardly gimpy but all it's branches are so slanted downward that it made it quite difficult to get anything to hang of the stupid branches! I was frustrated. You can't tell but there really are quite a few ornaments on the tree... They're just sort of hidden. Hmpf.


My sister Melanie bought me my very own 'official' Charlie Brown tree last year and I was tickled pink to bust it out of the box and put it up. It's just the cutest thing I've ever seen!