O Christmas Tree

Its my favorite time of year! After 3 1/2 long football-focused months, its finally "my" season--Christmas season. And one of my favorite things during Christmas season is the whole tree routine. I love carrying down the big plastic storage boxes from the attic (okay, so maybe Tom does that part, but I enjoy watching). I love bundling up in the car and heading to the tree lot. I love weighing the pros and cons of each and every tree in an effort to find the "perfect" one. I love how the smell of pine fills the house when Tom first carries the tree in. And then there's the actual decorating...unwrapping the ornaments that have been quietly stored away for a year, hanging them in the perfect spot on the tree and moving Tom's ornaments when he hangs them in not-so-perfect spots (I assume he's not the only male on the planet who hangs every sports-related ornament in the same 12"x12" space). I love that each ornament carries with it a memory--the 3 different elephant ornaments from that one time I mentioned to Grandma that I liked elephants, the baby booties with the handwritten message from my godfather on the bottom, the Santa sipping a cocktail ornament from our honeymoon. My new-old tree skirt, handmade by Grandma and passed from my mom to me. Every time I unwrap the tissue paper from an ornament, I find myself saying, "Oh, this is the one that..." (Tom really loves this, because mostly he is just trying to watch football and would really like to do so in peace.)

Yes, we are some of the few hold-outs on the whole fake tree movement. While I totally "get" the practicality of a fake tree, I hate them. There is no fresh pine scent, no lopsided branches or bare spots to give character. And worst of all, the memories made by hauling a box out of storage each year can't possibly compare to the memories made when debating over the perfect tree at the local tree farm each year. Yeah, so maybe my childhood tree-picking memories consist mostly of Dad muttering expletives while trying to cut the trunk to the right length--but they're fabulous memories nonetheless.

And while fake trees make my heart a little sad, color-theme trees make my heart even more sad. Because to me, a Christmas tree is not a decorator item. A Christmas tree is meant to be festive and filled with memories. The glitter covered ornaments with goofy school pictures pasted onto them, the seashell-turned-ornament collected from a long-ago beach trip, the cow skull replica ornament that your childhood babysitter brought back from a trip to New Mexico (What? No one else has that one?)--attractive or not, they all have a rightful place. Every year, Tom finds one or two (or three or seven) ornaments that he thinks we should just toss. And every year, I insist that every ornament gets hung on the tree. Would a silver and blue and green themed tree look stunning in my family room? Absolutely. But would it exude the same feelings of nostalgia and cheer and home that my perfectly imperfect tree exudes? I think not.

And for that reason, this year and every year, Libby will head to the tree lot with us and cast her vote for the perfect tree. And after Mommy makes Daddy reposition it no less than 7 times in the living room (mostly Mommy's doing, because Daddy would just like to drink a beer and move on), Libby will join in the fun of hanging a ridiculous assortment of mismatched ornaments on the most beautiful tree she's ever seen.