We put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving and I totally forgot to share it you all! While I love the smell of a real pine tree in our home, we went the artificial route when we adopted our first cat. It was just less to worry about. The kids did all the tree trimming this year. We’ve come a long way with our Christmas trees.
The very first Christmas my husband and I lived in the DC area was such a quiet one. Because we were so broke, we couldn’t afford the airfare to fly to our families for the holidays. I didn’t even feel like we could spare the money to buy a Christmas tree. So on Christmas Eve, we had no tree, no lights, no decorations of any sort. The move from Syracuse to DC, with its higher cost of living, was challenging. But we had each other!
When we lived in Syracuse, we visited this giant red barn that was full of live trees. We couldn’t afford the nicer trees that cost $50 and up, but there was the row of misfit trees. So every year that we lived in Syracuse, we carefully studied every misfit tree before choosing our $10 Charlie Brown tree.
It’s the best cat toy ever!
On Christmas Eve, my husband I didn’t want to sit home alone, missing our family. So we decided to go see a movie. I don’t remember what movie we actually saw. By the time we left the movie theatre it was almost midnight. I lamented about our lack of a Christmas tree.
Right as we crossed the major intersection to our apartment community, I made my husband pull the car into a shopping center next to our apartment. A vendor had set up a small live Christmas tree lot in the shopping center’s parking lot, but on Christmas Eve they had taken everything down. Except they abandoned a two or three unloved trees.
I begged my husband to put one of those trees in the trunk of our car. His love for me was strong because I just asked a black man to pretty much steal a Christmas tree in the middle of the night. The tree barely fit into our trunk as slammed it closed we drove home in our getaway car.
Holy cow! I just convinced my husband to steal us a Christmas tree! At the time he thought I was completely insane, but the tree symbolized my need for some sort of Christmas decoration to make our holiday feel less lonely. We got home, set it up and hung the ornaments just before the clock struck midnight into Christmas.
It’s a hilarious story now that we look back. Sophia begs me to retell it every year and my husband adds his indignation at the appropriate points.
This year my sister is spending Christmas with us. The holidays are definitely much better with family nearby.
Does your family put a Christmas tree or other holiday decorations?
I think that Christmas Tree was meant for you. It was meant to be.
I think you're right!