Saturday, December 17, 2011

Lighted Tree

If you celebrate the season, it all comes down to real or artificial. Growing up, we always had a real one. I can recall many a Sunday in December heading off to the outer reaches of Cumberland somewhere, in the station wagon with Dad with an ax in the back seat. We always headed to the same area and always returned with a 'perfect' tree. To this day Elenka and I have had a real Christmas tree to decorate each December. Hey, we live in Maine, and 'it's the right thing to do'. Where we get ours seems to go in cycles, but even with 10 acres out back we've never taken down our own. We've shopped at mom and pop stands, local garden centers and most recently at Lowe's. Whether a Douglas fir, a Fraser or a Balsam, we seem to find the 'perfect' one each year without fail. Could I survive with an artificial one? No problem. I'm sure someday, depending where we end up, it'll happen. A small one sitting on a table? I'll know the score. I'll live with it. But these Decembers, when I return home a bit stressed from my day, I light the tree and ah... my worries seem to just slide away. As I type this last line or so in the family room, our tree, twinkling away with its white lights and heirloom decorations, sets the mood for my coming day... and it's softly snowing out right now. Peace!
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17 comments:

  1. KateDecember 17, 2011 at 8:21 AM

    A family tradition, of course! Your final image conveys a feeling of peace and contentment.

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  2. Leif HagenDecember 17, 2011 at 9:49 AM

    I never get tired of seeing Christmas trees! That's a nice fat one!

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  3. KaoriDecember 17, 2011 at 9:57 AM

    Beautiful post. I love the smell of real Christmas trees...wish we had them here :)

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  4. Yogi♪♪♪December 17, 2011 at 9:58 AM

    I love Christmas trees also. They are special. Alas, I'm allergic to real ones so use artificial. No matter, still magical.

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  5. TexWisGirlDecember 17, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    sweet. :)

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  6. SharonDecember 17, 2011 at 10:26 AM

    I just put mine up last night and you are so right, once you start looking at it, all the little stresses seem to melt away. I love to play Christmas music while I'm decorating the tree. It just seems like the right thing to do.

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  7. RedPatDecember 17, 2011 at 1:02 PM

    A glass of wine would make it perfect!

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  8. Sharon CreechDecember 17, 2011 at 3:22 PM

    What a nice, Christmasy scene you've set for us . . .merci, Birdman.

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  9. Memphis MOJODecember 17, 2011 at 6:16 PM

    I love the Smell when I walk in the house.

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  10. AnonymousDecember 17, 2011 at 6:39 PM

    Ah... the softly snowing outside and a real tree, what could be better??

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  11. JackDecember 17, 2011 at 9:36 PM

    We always put up a real tree, purchased from a local nursery. Personally, I would buy a nice artificial tree with lights already strung, but the rest of the family won't hear of it. They like the tradition. I don't like the mess, and it doesn't seem that many decades of putting dead trees in landfills is especially sustainable.

    The part I DO love is putting all of those old ornaments on the tree, and remembering where we got each one.

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  12. Bob CroweDecember 17, 2011 at 10:03 PM

    I can't remember the last time we had a Christmas tree - we're too overloaded by our frenetic lives and too unsentimental. My father and I had a parallel tradition to yours. It would get to the 22nd or 23rd and we still didn't have a tree. My mother would start to lose it. On the 23rd or sometimes Christmas Eve my father and I would drive from Queens to the questionably legal tree lots under the elevated portion of the West Side Highway (the part that later collapsed). Shady-looking guys would huddle around 55 gallon drums of burning scrap wood, hustling deals. My father was quite a negotiator and we'd always come come with - the perfect tree. Christmas was saved, and not by Jimmy Stewart.

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  13. RandyDecember 18, 2011 at 1:09 AM

    We have a real a live tree. Small enough to transport it so that we can plant it somewhere when Christmas is over. Love that wonderful Pine smell.

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  14. brattcatDecember 18, 2011 at 6:20 AM

    and the same to you, dear birdman.

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  15. cieldequimperDecember 18, 2011 at 6:38 AM

    Peace and love to you too (and I'm too young for it to mean something hippyesque).

    My tree is blue today.

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  16. DinaDecember 18, 2011 at 11:52 AM

    Peace to you, Birdman. It's a lovely picture you paint.

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  17. CaTDecember 18, 2011 at 10:45 PM

    perfect! makes me almost want to run out and get a tree too. and to smell it... :)

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