But my truth is that I have never been fond of fake anything... butter, wood, OR Christmas trees! Until now, with the newly purchased tree sitting in it's box (I haven't had the muster to open the box after sitting here for 4 days) I have always felt they were hideous. I would wonder why people even bothered; didn't they understand the family activity of the hunt for perfection and that the house was suppose to smell like pine? Haven't they ever watched A Charlie Brown Christmas?
The last two years have been tough for Russ. He could not trek into the woods with me to breathe the richness of the woods and search for the perfect tree, but was left to sit in the car alone and wondering how it was going. Last year it became evident that was not working well and we needed an alternative plan. He called me on my cell several times Where are you? I can't see you? Are you OK? Are you finding any good ones?" It is very difficult to be left behind on the scouting mission, especially since that mission has always been a joint effort.
All the worry on his part made we hurry with my selection. Coming home to put it in a stand I was in a sad and frustrated frame of mind. My recollection of that day is 3 tries on my part to get it secured in the stand, but eventually giving up. I got Russ outside for both moral support and a strong hand to hold the tree steady while I screwed it into the stand. Several more tries. Not working and frustration flurished with a side of anger. I set it aside for my disposition to improve. The next effort was to add some pieces of wood between the large stand and the small tree truck. Again, failure. I ripped that leaning tree out of the stand, stomped across the road and threw it into the industrial dumpster! The end, now on to plan B. My Christmas 'offering' was to decorate the porch with lights. Enough for this year.
Ah, but I love having a tree, so after that fiasco I decided to get an artificial one. Really? Well, at least we would have a tree to decorate, I would not have to spend &60- to $100- every year to buy a real one and Russ would not have to sit in the car missing out on an adventure. I decided to wait until they were half price, the only saving grace to 'artificial'.