It's a Tree Thing

We put up the Christmas tree last night, or should I say, we attempted to put up the 5-foot shrub we used to call a tree, but couldn't stop laughing at the way it was dwarfed by the tv armoire. The artificial tree was only 5-years-old but we bought it while we were living in a very small, one bedroom apartment and we had to pick a tree to size. Now that we have a considerably larger living area we decided to bite the bullet and buy a bigger tree. And let me tell you that it was no picnic trying to find a tree that was not pre-lit! Jon and I are old fashioned--we prefer to fuss with multiple strands of colored bulbs every year. We do not like to make life easier on ourselves by splurging for a tree that you just pull out of a box and plug in. No, you have to spend at least an hour untangling the strands of lights, then test and replace bulbs until you can finally begin wrapping them around the Christmas tree, carefully applying light to each little branch. That's just the way it is done.

We had to go to a few different stores, but we eventually emerged victoriously from Target with an 8-foot, light-it-yourself tree. They even gave us a $25 giftcard which we used to begin our Christmas shopping.

When we got the tree home we were pleasantly surprised by the way it was put together. Forgive me if I sound old-fashioned, but I couldn't believe that it was only three large pieces to snap together and the branches were already attached! The thing opened up like an umbrella. Gone are the days of holding artificial tree limbs up to the light, trying to decide if the tag on the end is black or midnight blue! I no longer have to compare branch lengths to figure out which row should go on first because I lost the assembly directions again! It turns out we were perfectly okay with a nearly pre-assembled tree, but we couldn't be swayed into believing pre-lit was okay.

The tree looks great, if anything it may be a little too big, but otherwise, it's perfect.