Gary decided last year that we should get a real tree, but I wasn't sure what I thought about all that work, and besides we already had a fake tree that I had gotten for free from Aunt Melanie and Uncle Clint. Granted it was a bit on the small side, and really old and shedded more than a long haired cat, but still I didn't see a need to go buy another one that would have to be thrown out after Christmas when we had one already. Well last year our little fake tree had to branches break off, leaving a huge gap, and I even had to admit that it was time to throw out the little tree.
So this year we decided to get a real tree. My family has never had a real tree, at least not in my memory, and it had been awhile since Gary's folks had a real tree, so he really wanted to get a real tree, besides a real tree for $26 or a nice fake tree for $200. I told him if we were going to get one, I wanted the biggest one we could find, after all we have 12 ft ceilings in the living room. So after driving around town on Monday to see what we could find, we bought a 7 and 1/2 ft Douglas fir from Home Depot. We brought it home, got it all set up, fluffed it up (I managed to break two branches in the back doing this), filled up the water and pulled out the boxes of ornaments. All this, only to discover that our lights didn't work any more. After piddling with them for a little while, we determined that we would need some more so off to town I went. (Gary says this was the first mistake sending me to town with the debit card and without supervision, haha.) Not only did I come back with lights, but a new tree skirt, and some garland, and stuff for our banister. When I finished decorating though, even Gary had to admit that the house looked nice and Christmas-y.
While I decorated, I turned on the one Christmas cd I have (An Irish Christmas). Scrouge, I mean Gary grumbled, and put on his headphones to watch a movie online. Somehow the lets get excited about Christmas gene didn't pass from Granna and Mom to Gary. He mutters bah-humbug till the last possible moment. Not that I want to listen to Christmas music from now till Christmas or anything, just while we are decorating, and wrapping presents. Britt mostly climbed up and down the step ladder and pointed out all the balls on the tree, during all of this time. He especially likes to pet the tree, and was very excited when he realized we were bringing it in the house. He was sure to point out every one of the "lars" (stars), balls, and "shhhhh-no" (snowflakes) that he saw go on the tree. He even pointed out a "turt-tle", "ful-fly" (butterfly), and "Ti-Ti" (Tiger). Last year he never tried to take anything off the tree or unwrap any presents. The only thing he really messed with was the tissue paper in the one gift bag under the tree. This year though, I can see is going to be a whole nother story. He keeps bringing me the "af-fle" (apple) from off the tree and trying to take off all the balls. Not sure that I like having to water it all the time, but it does look and smell really nice.