Shopping For Christmas Trees

Every year on December 1, my family spends the day together. We pick up a few gifts for the holidays and we go out to eat. Before we go home, we always stop and buy the fattest live Christmas tree we can find! That evening, I fight with the Christmas tree lights while everyone makes their escape to a happier place. In my house, I'm the only one that seems to be able to put them on the tree without having wires sticking out everywhere! After the lights are on, everyone comes in to put the ornaments on the tree! We watch Christmas movies and play Christmas music into the night!

Fast forward a few days and I am miserable while I spend an extra hour a day cleaning up after my tree. It's like having a messy toddler! Laying on my stomach and watering my tree to keep it green is getting old and I swear, I'll never get all the needles out of our socks. Every day, twice a day, I sweep up the needles that have fallen from the tree. My tree skirt is covered and so are my beautifully wrapped packages. My cats enjoy leaping into my Christmas tree and this makes an even bigger mess. After a few weeks, usually the week of Christmas, my tree is dry and crunchy. The needles are turning brown and I'm growing more afraid since it's next to my fireplace. I'm not ready to get an artificial tree though. I'd miss the smell of the fresh tree and they are so beautiful to me! If I ever decided to make the switch, I'd get a beautiful, lush artificial Christmas tree and then I could enjoy it from the moment I set it up! No struggling with lights. My new tree would have lights put in place by someone else! That would be a treat! No needles to sweep and no watering while laying in an awkward position! There are some artificial trees available that are so realistic, they could tempt me to make the change!