I have always had a huge allergy to real Christmas trees. When I walk in and smell the tree, my eyes tear up, I start sneezing, and if I stay too long or get too close, I break out in rashes, and get sinus-related migraines! Which makes me sad for my dear husband–because one thing he loves about Christmas (and one thing he’s had to sacrifice for our relationship!) is the fun of the annual Christmas tree selection and the pleasure of walking into the house throughout the holiday season, smelling the Christmas tree!
Several in my family are allergic to Christmas trees, so while I was growing up, we always had an artificial tree.
My senior year of college I bought a smallish (6-ft) Christmas tree during the after-Christmas sales. I had a job lined up as an auditor with a regional CPA firm, and I knew that next year when I came home to my little apartment all by myself–600 miles away from my family, I would want a Christmas tree! I wish I could remember how much I spent. It was 75% off after Christmas, and I want to say it was $5 or $10!
For the past 12 years, it has been my tree–and now, for the past eight years it has been our tree! Daniel always calls it my “Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.”
I love it and the kids, and I have had so much fun decorating it together! When I purchased that tree long ago, never in my wildest dreams did I think we would keep setting it up until we had four small children!
Every year we thought of buying a new nicer tree after Christmas. But of course, the ones we were now looking at were not in the $5-$10 range–even at 75% off. And every year, by the time Christmas was over, we were not really feeling like we should be purchasing anything extra. So it was that the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree continued to enjoy its place in our home and in our hearts . . .
Well, it looks like we might finally be moving up. Someone had a beautiful, pre-lit, artificial tree. However, the “pre-lit” feature is malfunctioning, and since the tree was still under warranty, they called the manufacturer and received a replacement. Because of this, it looks like we will be the happy recipients of the partially-pre-lit tree! It is a beautiful tree, and for that price?—well, it was a deal too good to be true!
I’m not quite sure how to part with the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree though. It seems that a ceremony is in order. . .
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Now that our family is complete (Oops, just for that comment, we will probably be pregnant again by Christmas!), I decided to buy Christmas stockings for each of our kids that they could use throughout their childhood.
We let Mara choose whether her stocking should say simply “Mara” or her first and middle names, “Mara Joy.” She chose “Mara Joy.”
Pottery Barn had a stocking sale (with free monogramming and free shipping–woo-HOO!) and when you imagine the cost out over 18 years, it really comes to pennies per year. . . well, maybe quarters. . . or actually I think it might be a couple dollars. . . but it is mere quarters if you calculate per child per year . . . I have to justify this somehow. I’m an accountant.
Anyway, I got the message that they shipped today–and I started getting excited about decorating for Christmas!
🙂