Have Yourself a Merry *Little* Christmas
A lesson learned from a Christmas tree.
The first year I had my own house, I bought an artificial Christmas tree. A BIG artificial Christmas tree. My family always had real ones, and I figured if I was going to forgo the real tree, damn it, I was going to have the biggest, fullest, most majestic artificial tree I could cram in my living room.
So, the first year, I moved my table to the other wall and shuffled everything around into an odd arrangement to make a corner for the tree. We put it up the day after Thanksgiving and we were so exhausted after we finally got it all up. It took all day. Plus, living with it so *there* and in the way got to be old after...oh, 4 days. I couldn't wait to take it down the day after Christmas. Well, that's no good! What's the pleasure of a tree if it is such a pain in the ass to put up and live with?
The next year, I decided I needed to buy a new tree. A slender tree. And while I was at it, pre-lit so I wouldn't have to screw around with the lights. I went to the store, and couldn't believe how much a tall, slender, prelit tree cost. I went home and started to think. I felt bad about buying a new tree after I bought a *really* expensive one the year before and had only used it once. Besides, I couldn't really throw away the other tree, so I would have to store both. It was a dilemma.
The night we decided to put up the tree, I had a friend over and asked him for advice. How could we arrange the furniture so it wouldn't be in the way, and should we just give up on the monstrous thing and buy a new, skinny tree? While he was playing with the tree, he picked up the top two sections and put them together and it all clicked. We would just put up the top two sections! We would still have a well proportioned, full and bushy tree, but it would just not have an extra 3 feet in height or 5 feet in diameter!
We had the best time decorating that little tree. No one needed to stand on a ladder to put up the lights. Putting up lights took only 20 minutes. It only required 1 package of garland. It only required one box of ornaments. It was awesome! Not only did we not need to buy a new one, the smaller version of the tree didn't dominate the living room--it looked cozily at home.
Now I don't dread putting up the tree or tripping over it for the entire season. I have the perfect *little* Christmas tree!
The first year I had my own house, I bought an artificial Christmas tree. A BIG artificial Christmas tree. My family always had real ones, and I figured if I was going to forgo the real tree, damn it, I was going to have the biggest, fullest, most majestic artificial tree I could cram in my living room.
So, the first year, I moved my table to the other wall and shuffled everything around into an odd arrangement to make a corner for the tree. We put it up the day after Thanksgiving and we were so exhausted after we finally got it all up. It took all day. Plus, living with it so *there* and in the way got to be old after...oh, 4 days. I couldn't wait to take it down the day after Christmas. Well, that's no good! What's the pleasure of a tree if it is such a pain in the ass to put up and live with?
The next year, I decided I needed to buy a new tree. A slender tree. And while I was at it, pre-lit so I wouldn't have to screw around with the lights. I went to the store, and couldn't believe how much a tall, slender, prelit tree cost. I went home and started to think. I felt bad about buying a new tree after I bought a *really* expensive one the year before and had only used it once. Besides, I couldn't really throw away the other tree, so I would have to store both. It was a dilemma.
The night we decided to put up the tree, I had a friend over and asked him for advice. How could we arrange the furniture so it wouldn't be in the way, and should we just give up on the monstrous thing and buy a new, skinny tree? While he was playing with the tree, he picked up the top two sections and put them together and it all clicked. We would just put up the top two sections! We would still have a well proportioned, full and bushy tree, but it would just not have an extra 3 feet in height or 5 feet in diameter!
We had the best time decorating that little tree. No one needed to stand on a ladder to put up the lights. Putting up lights took only 20 minutes. It only required 1 package of garland. It only required one box of ornaments. It was awesome! Not only did we not need to buy a new one, the smaller version of the tree didn't dominate the living room--it looked cozily at home.
Now I don't dread putting up the tree or tripping over it for the entire season. I have the perfect *little* Christmas tree!
posted by knittykat @ 9:35 AM
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