"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Lights Are On

Our 25 year old artificial tree is up.  The lights are on, but it's not decorated yet.


Why artificial?  We've gone back and forth over the years between the real trees and our old standby.  Sometimes paying for a "real" tree seemed like a waste of money.  Our old artificial hangs out in the attic in a Rubbermaid crate all year long until I make SM yank it down.  Once the decorations on it, it looks just fine.


A few years ago we were invited to our neighbors for New Years Eve.  James is a retired Firefighter and he decided to celebrate New Years with fireworks and a bonfire made with all the neighbors Christmas trees.  We trolled the neighborhood New Years Eve and picked up the discarded, dried out trees and dragged them over to James' house.


Whoosh...went the trees, burning faster than you could blink.  "We're never having a real tree in our house again."  I leaned over and whispered in SM's ear.


So ever since that enlightening moment, I burn a Yankee Candle scented with pine to enhance our X-mas moments.  You'd never know the difference and I have the peace of mind knowing that I won't be setting the house on fire anytime soon.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Tami-Love those photos-really shows the "magic" of the season.
    I grew up with an artificial tree. I always thought real trees were such a waste-cut down a perfectly healthy tree for a couple weeks , then throw it away? Now I live in an area that grows them for the big box stores-it's actually kinda interesting--you have to look at them as a crop, like corn. BUT--that said, I STILL don't use real trees. I helped a friend put one up at her house--and a few days later she had a TON of bugs hatch out. Bugs. Needles. Fire hazard. No thanks.
    (Oh,just end the novel-SUE!!!)
    :)

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  2. Tami - We have a conifer tree that grows in a pot. Each year we schlep it in, decorate and enjoy it, and then before the 6th January it gets taken outside and given a bit of thank-you TLC and placed in a shady spot where we can enjoy it as a pot plant year round. We have had the same tree for 10 years :)

    No compost, no landfill and no fake trees in our Christmas LOL

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  3. Every year I want a real tree. And every year my allergies say, "NO!" Thanks for making them look less appealing! And pine scented Yankee Candles are great!

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  4. My husband and children always have a real tree...in the living room....I have two artificial trees in the back of the house (kitchen and formal dining room)...one decorated with homemade gingerbread men and the other decorated with 36 years of Mann Family Christmas ornament exchange ornaments. I too light a couple Yankee pine scented candles!

    (your photos are awesome!!!)

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  5. I only have a real tree when one is growing somewhere that needs to come out. Otherwise I really feel bad about killing a tree just to put in the house for a few weeks. So we too go for the old artificial tree. Or if I am feeling really Scrooge like, just the ceramic one.

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  6. We had a real tree twice, I think. One of the trees came into the house two days before Christmas...DH worked at the Dept. of Transportaion and found one on the side of the road, so brought it home for me!

    We haven't had a "proper" Christmas tree in several years, but DD is now going on 3 and can appreciate (and not totally destroy) a tree. We bit the bullet and bought a $39 pre-lit tree. It was EASY to put up! No messing with the strings of half-burnt out lights. Hopefully this one will last years & years.

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