I keep telling myself this, but it never fails (oops! did I say that???)…just when you think throwing that verbal gauntlet down will mean something, it comes back at you (or me). 

So I am here to tell you that I am a mini-van driving, fake tree owning woman…hear me roar!  Yep, I swore…SWORE that I would NEVER own either of those two things.  I got them both within a few months of each other about 5 years ago.  You wonder what could have happened to push me over the edge of sanity where I desired, even begged for these things?  TWINS.  They made me yearn for those side doors that opened at the push of a button on my key fob (fob…really?), made me loathe my ‘get out of my way or I’ll run over you’-4 wheel drive-super cool Chevy Tahoe.  I loved driving that big, womanly thing…it had captain’s chairs in the second row, awesome for going to dinner with friends…or hauling my one child around in.  With the simultaneous (well, they were 2 minutes apart) arrival of child two & three, to say the dynamics of life changed is an understatement.  After about a week of climbing over the 2nd row, I was drooling over the prospect of a mini-van (after we learned we couldn’t replace those captain’s chairs with a bench)…and I convinced myself that the ‘cool’ moms all had one…I had to do something, I said I would NEVER own one.

On to the more seasonally appropriate NEVER…the tree!  I have such wonderful, fond memories of shopping…sometimes even chopping…our family tree.  In my head I see visions of the Griswolds…yeah, Clark was in full-effect “OH CHRISTMAS TREE…OH CHRISTMAS TREE”.  This was not the family tradition I had any intentions of abandoning…I would never have a fake tree…NEV-AH.  I certainly changed my tune, much to my darling husband’s dismay (he was raised on real trees, fraiser furs only…his mom may be the only person in history to return a tree, well I’m guessing she exchanged a tree).  He, under protest went out and got me a beautiful 9 foot pre-lit tree…it is the most ‘real’ looking fake tree I have ever seen (his other option was to go out, pick the tree out himself AND put the 2000+ lights on it…this was the daunting task that forced me into the boughs of the false wonder).  I have embraced this fake tree for 5 years…it brings the same joy, eye twinkles and excitement that any ‘real’ tree does.  I love to decorate for Christmas, I love the transformation, watching the kids ‘find’ all of the ornaments…which will be their favorite this year?…seeing how their little hands have grown since we made the handprint snowmen last year.  The ornaments really don’t look any different on my big, fake tree than they did on the real ones of years past…though I miss the beauty of the mega amounts of lights, I don’t miss the near 8 hour day it took to get it there.

fake tree, real wreath, sweet handprint

Last year, we celebrated Christmas at my parents’ cabin in Flagstaff, AZ.  It was so perfect…just us, the 6 of us…small space, 3+ feet of snow, and our little ‘Charlie Brown’ tree…well it was pre-lit…but ornaments were sparce.  It was absolutely perfect!  We topped it with the star that permanently resides in the window…I will never, and I’m saying never (God, please don’t plague me with memory loss to make me regret this statement) forget that Christmas. 

Today’s secret revealed:  Fake, real, green, white, flocked…whatever your tree tendencies are…they still usher in the spirit of the season…just remember what that season is all about.

One more little secret…the fragrance of a real tree can’t be faked, I remedy this with a real wreath that I hang near the tree 🙂