Irregular Christmas Tradition

[mrdreamjeans]

When I was a child in Pennsylvania, our family made a big deal of going to a tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. The freshly cut tree would be taken home on the top of the car or in the back of the truck, taken into the house in its place of honor, put in the stand and then the decorating began. After we moved to Texas (and a very different climate) in 1967, my Mom's allergies escalated, partially due to Dad's pipe smoking. Real Christmas trees were banned from the house.

Thus, a new tradition was born. We bought an artificial tree. Instead of the aroma of fresh pine, every year we dust off plastic branches in descending order of size, put them in the right holes, then the decorating begins. We've used the same fake tree now for close to 40 years. It's not the warm, fuzzy memory you'd like to have, but after so many years, it's a family tradition.

I've tried to improve the look of the tree over the years and think I've done a decent job the past two Christmases. I've added blue hydrangeas and white poinsettias to fill in some of the gaps; I put up blue lights, garland and about 50 ornaments in blue, white and silver. Tinsel is added at the end. Here's the completed product!