Every year it is a tradition with my side of the family to put up our fake Christmas tree. No, it doesn't have the smell or the character (aka uniqueness) of a real Christmas tree, but we always made it work. No one could decorate a tree and make it stand out like my mom. People sometimes came over thinking it was real until they got a closer look and realized it was far too perfect to be so.

Every year it is a tradition of Clark's side of the family to get a real Christmas tree. Two years ago they came up to the High Country and we went with them as they selected and cut the tree of their choice. It was of my opinion then that it was a waste of time and money, no offense to all of you who do the same thing. I realized, though, that it was because I was experiencing someone else's taste of trees. Clark's mother tends to like them tall and fat, and his grandmother, NaNa, tends to like them still a little on the dumpy side on the bottom.

This year, however, after much debate-- I decided to give in and get a real tree. It is our last year in the Christmas Tree Country, after all, and I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about.

We set out a little late, considering we had to wait for Clark to get off work. It was dusk and foggy and rainy (yes, rain, not snow) and gross. The weather was not helping my mood at all, and I was thinking that I was just going to declare my mind changed and go back to the house and put up our pre-lit tree.

No, I thought. I had better stick with this. It means a lot to Clark.

We finally pulled up to a lot that Clark decided was suitable. Having Luna with us, we all piled out of the car and realized we three were the only ones on the lot besides the workers. Thank you, weather.





We walked around and Clark picked out quite a few "dumpy" trees, and when I say dumpy I mean pear shaped. He kept showing me all these trees he liked but I knew that if this was going to be my first real tree, it had to be perfect. He kept making such a big deal out of it, so I was easily able to use it to my advantage to pick out the tree I thought our Christmas was going to deserve.



Though the adventure would have been much more enjoyable if it had been snowing, not raining, and if I had remembered my gloves, it was over all a wonderful experience. Clark kept sharing what he and his little brother and sister used to do when they cut down trees during his childhood, and it made me realize that his traditions were just as important as my own.

Decorating the tree was a bit of a disaster.

We started a fire,


brought in the tree, and went through all the first exciting steps of setting it up. Making sure it wasn't crooked, moving it this way and that, until it was finally set up to my satisfaction... to begin with.

To my dismay, I realized that a tree skirt is far more important when you have a fake tree because you need it to cover up the awful stand the tree has to reside in. I also realized that you can't just bend the branches to fill in holes, you have to use ornaments to do that. Since we don't have quite as many ornaments, due to the fact of only three years of marriage, that was also hard to do.



I have to admit to having a break down, but it was easily fixed with some comforting words from Clark.

Over all, I am very satisfied with our real tree. I do love the smell and the presence it has in the house. I'm not 100% positive it is something we will keep up every year, but I must admit it's beginning to grown on me.