When in Doubt, Fake It

Well, it's actually happened to me - I swore It never would.  I have an artificial (fake) Christmas tree in my living room!  I am a die hard, real Christmas tree gal - I love the smell, the tradition, the history and the fun of a real Christmas tree.


So, you ask, how did I end up with a fake one?  Fate and frugality, I think.


Last weekend, we went to our local hardware store to buy a tree. I love supporting the small business - the people are great there and, by the way, the trees were reasonably priced.  So, being the bargain shopper I am, I picked the largest, fullest tree in the lot - Bill, of course having that eye, said let's cut a big piece of the bottom as I think it's too tall.


So we took our freshly trimmed tree off the lot and into our living room - OK - it was big, really big.  At this point, I'm feeling like it's a coup.  We (and by we, I mean the boys) put it in the stand and we decorated the heck out of it.  Now, I don't usually like to kibbitz, but I did say at one point - does it look like it's leaning? No, they thought it would be OK.  Sure enough, the next day I come home and it's on the floor - ornaments everywhere needles galore. 


But I'm stubborn, so we (the boys) put it back up - it looked great, shored up with a few extra twists of the screws and we're good to go.


So, I go out of town for work, and get the uh oh call from Bill - at this point, I'm all in favor of putting it on the curb - which they did - needles and all.


And, enter stage left the fake tree - borrowed from my in-laws and sweetly put up and decorated before I got home - thank you one and all - a gesture I truly appreciate.


Of course - I'll be right back to real next year, but maybe I'll remember my father's sage "you get what you pay for" advice and cough up a few more dollars for a better tree.