The First Day of Christmas: Christmas Trees

     I love Christmas trees!! Growing up my folks always made the trek to Eby Pines the weekend after Thanksgiving to select a tree. We put it up that very weekend with my Dad in charge of hanging the lights, and the hanging of the decorations fell to the rest of us. It always made the house smell so good. Even if the cats took great joy in using the tree stand as their personal water dish, I always loved our real Christmas trees. My mom loved to decorate the whole house for Christmas and there were some years she placed 2 Christmas trees in the living room, a tree in the hall, and one in each bedroom. She loved to decorate for Christmas and hung tinsel garlands, lights, and ornaments everywhere imaginable.

     When my husband and I first married it was important to me to continue the tradition. The weekend following Thanksgiving was rainy that year. We didn’t let the rain deter us from schedule and marched right out to Eby Pines to select our tree. By the time we returned home we were resembled drenched rats. The tree was soaked, and everything in the living room pretty much was too. After that, my husband didn’t want any part of a real Christmas tree and we purchased an artificial model.

     Shortly after we first married, everyone in the family made the transition to an artificial tree. Whether it was from the bad luck of all the needles promptly falling off upon the tree’s arrival to the house, or the fact that everyone was getting older it seemed no one wanted to deal with the headache of maintaining a real tree for the month of December.

     Before my Dad died fiber optic trees became all the rage and he was the first person I knew who rushed out and purchased one. By the next year, WALMART advertised a 6 foot fiber optic tree on sale for $40.00 on Black Friday. My husband and I bundled up our toddler and rushed to the store at the butt crack of dawn to get ours at a great price. It lasted a few years and then lost its luster. The bulbs burned out, and by then I was aching for twinkling lights again.

     Another Black Friday came where Walgreens had a 6 foot lighted tree on sale for 30.00. Once again we rose at the butt crack of dawn and made sure we got our hot little hands on one of those trees. We have used that tree ever since.

     With our special decorations from the baby picture ornaments, wedding picture ornament, to the ornaments made carefully by my kids, our tree is overflowing with memories. When my husband first married we vowed we would add a new ornament each Christmas whether it is a Hallmark classic ornament, a handmade ornament, or one representing the year. After 14 years of happy additions, we now have a tree full of very special ornaments.

     There is no better time of the year than Christmas, and no better decoration for the house than a Christmas tree!! That is all I have to say until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.