Finally, a Christmas tree...

When Tom and I first moved in together, he spent an outrageous sum of money on a very beautiful Christmas tree, having grown up with fake ones for most of his life. After that first year, the novelty wore off, and he realized that having a real tree is a bit more work than he had anticipated.

The past two years, we haven't had xmas decorations, much less a tree. Two years ago I was traveling like crazy, and last year we were in between houses. I think maybe I had a wreath. So when I announced to Tom earlier this month that I fully intended to get a tree, let's say he was less than thrilled...

They're such a mess...
Where are we going to put it - we don't have room for our regular stuff...
It's two weeks 'til Christmas - why bother...
They're too expensive...

And so forth... But I dug in my heels. We compromised: I could get a tree, but he wanted nothing to do with it. Ha -- a familiar refrain to many wives (kind of like the dog he wanted, but I make sure she has food and gets baths on a regular basis...but I digress!) So off I went to Home Depot tonight, where decent trees can still be had for $29.

The chase was on, however, for the stand. I went down to our house in Plymouth after Thanksgiving and collected all of our holiday decorations. No stand to be found. I don't know what it is with these things -- I'm fairly certain that in the nearly 15 years that I've been living on my own, I've bought at least five or six of them. They mysteriously disappear every few years...no doubt still attached to a tree and thrown out in a fit of rage when they fail to unscrew.

Target: sold out. Kmart: cleared out. Home Depot: nada. Yikes -- I have a freshly cut tree and no stand! I'm about to run out to the 24-hour CVS in Porter Square when my mother-in-law calls me from the front door: wait! My sister-in-law may have an extra! Many, many thanks to Judy who dug through her basement and found a spare stand!

A little help from my father-in-law getting the tree upstairs and upright in the stand, and presto: Heather has her tree.

Take that, Tommy! ;)