Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Losing a battle to win the war...

If you're like me, when you consider moving into a new house, one of the first things you try to figure out is where the Christmas tree will go. I love Christmas. I'd leave my Christmas decorations up four or five months if I could get away with it, which I can't, because Jim and James think, for some reason, that Christmas decorations shouldn't go up before Thanksgiving and should come down before Valentine's Day. Sheesh. So restrictive.

For the last 10 or 11 years, we've been using an awesome Barcana artificial tree that is every bit of nine feet tall. Just gorgeous. Our last two houses have had raised ceilings, and the tall tree looked really good in those houses. Being the Christmas freak that I am, I've also had as many as seven fully-decorated trees of smaller sizes scattered around this house, but I donated all but two (I think) of those extra trees to the thrift store when I was paring down Christmas decorations for the move.

So, okay, here's the problem:  There's only one place in the new Alaska house with a tall enough ceiling to accommodate my lovely gigantic tree - the dining room. That's also the only place Jim's dream wood-burning stove can go. Hm. Dilemma. 

Since we're also trying to cut down the amount of weight we have to ship with the movers, and since the big tree is a heavy sucker, we've decided that my nice Barcana is not making the trip to Alaska. In exchange, I've decided to hit the Fred Meyer store hard as soon as the Christmas stuff goes on sale and go back to blanketing the house in smaller 4' or 6' trees.

Heh heh heh.

You're welcome to come visit us around Christmas time, but be prepared to have to sidle down the hallways and squeeze sideways through the rooms, because I'm thinking it may take, oh, maybe eight or nine trees to make up for the loss of the big one. 

My plot to populate the world with Christmas bling has taken a step forward. Mwahahaha.


8 comments:

  1. Methinks you already have at least three precisely planned out.

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  2. Jim (of the wild ride variety)April 28, 2009 at 9:51:00 AM CDT

    Khaaaaannn!!!!!

    I really like REAL Christmas trees.
    1) they smell good
    2) they look natural
    3) they dry out before Valentine's day

    I really DON'T like shopping for Christmas trees
    1) they aren't symmetrical (the sun doesn't orbit the tree equally radiating each side, nor does the wind evenly distribute itself around the tree, and their are critters who nibble on baby trees, etc)
    2) finding "just the right tree" is a bit like finding "just the wife" and takes a similar amount of time. I did okay on the wife, trees I've not shown as much skill with.

    For these reasons we've had a fake (cough) tree for about 10 years, and it makes getting a tree up in late September easier (the Christmas tree lots aren't open yet).

    I've been trying to convince the Christmas tree hoarder that maybe going back to real trees would be good because our [cue angel voices]Barcana tree[/cue angel voices] is starting to shed needles like our boxer mix sheds fur, and efforts at individually gluing them back on with super glue seem like wasted effort.

    We're a bit over budget with our moving weight (not much furniture, but boy we love books, which are WAY heavier) so the Barcana seems like a handy thing to prune. I didn't realize I'd be battling back 4' trees like kudzoo though. Oh, what have I done???

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  3. Oh Jim, such drama.

    And for anyone who actually reads these comments, I HAVE NOT tried re-gluing the needles back on the fake tree. And my fake trees may shed a few needles every year, but a real tree sheds them all, and stepping on a dry pine needle with bare feet totally hurts.

    I'll make you a deal: A real tree on the easily-vacuumed solid floor in the dining room, and boxed trees everywhere else. I'll even let you put a real tree on the deck, too.

    (And comparing a fake tree to the Canine Cannonball isn't quite fair... I've never had to leave a room due to Christmas tree farts.)

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  4. @James, hmm, let me think about it a second....

    The Christmas tree where all the presents go, which is probably Dad's real tree....

    The Birthday Tree....

    Going by previous years' themes, I could also have a Carousel tree, an Amy tree, a Wildlife tree, a Memory tree, a Cookie Cutter tree, or the awesomest tree we've ever done - the Antique Ornament tree.

    Yeah, three at least. :^)

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  5. Christmas tree farts, lol! And ditto on the pine needles.

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  6. You guys kill me! I could just hug all three of you! Don't fret, this will all work itself out and I'm sure it will be beautiful and memorable! I love you guys tons! (I'm so excited for you too!) Carla

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  7. Hehehe.... However, I do believe in not setting the tree up early, but then I have a birthday at the end of November, and was horrified when the Christmas decorations were being sold before my birthday! I tend to leave the decorations up for ages though :-)

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  8. Nifwlseirff, we can sympathize with a birthday close to a holiday... My son's bday is Dec. 29. Our way to acknowledge that his birthday is close to Christmas but still keep them separate is that he decorates a Birthday Tree. He decorates it any way he wants, and that's where we put his birthday presents. :^)

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