We really wanted to start our "cut it down ourselves" tradition this year (
like these lucky strangers on Google Images), but we missed getting the good permits and thought driving to Wyoming to get one was less than desirable. But our adventure to Smith's Marketplace was no less adventurous.
For starters, it had the same wonderful smell as a pine forest...but that's about all that resembled cutting down our own tree. Our intention was to scope out the selection. Critique, discuss, choose, then rechoose as we might have done in the mountains, but selecting a Smith's Marketplace tree was a little more cut and dry. Find a bin of trees smashed together like sardines and have a tree lot specialist pick the most accessible tree. Our specialist was...well...think
Cousin Eddie.
The first tree he pulled out wasn't tall enough so he chucked it to the side and painstakingly pulled out a second one. It looked like an
umbrella inverted in the wind the way its branches shot straight up from being pressed against all the others. There was no way of telling what this tree really looked like, but since it was taller than Brandon and Cousin Eddie impatiently persisted the branches would fall when it defrosted, we bought the tree and moved on with our night.
Good news is that the tree did defrost. It literally started raining on our carpet as the snow we didn't see on the inner branches melted. It actually sounded pretty cool. We pushed the branches down and out came a really full, beautiful tree. We had some lights and Cory hooked us up with his childhood ornaments since we don't have any yet. It's a little sparse, but we like it. And our house smells so good.
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| That's nothing compared to what was inside...and then on our carpet/towels |
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| Tree in all its pre-defrosted, smashed glory... |
First Time Setting up Christmas Married
While we were getting the tree my friend, Denise, called. I told her I'd call her back in a few minutes, we were picking out a tree. She's been married for several years and thought to herself, "A few minutes!?? Clearly she hasn't done this before. She hasn't picked one and tried to set it up or decorate it with her husband." She didn't expect me to call back that night. But I did. It made sense to her when I told her we only got it standing, we didn't want to adjust it or decorate it until it defrosted. Still, Brandon and I work pretty well together and it was Christmas fun so I didn't anticipate any problems.
I was a little wrong. Getting it straight was much easier than I thought it would be. Getting the lights on was a whole different story. We come from two different backgrounds with different ideas on how to put lights on a tree...who knew there was more than one way!!? We always just put them on growing up. Brandon actually Googled putting lights on a tree to show me his way is the way to do it. He didn't think what I started doing was going to work. Annoyed, but whatever, I gave him the lights and let him do it the Google way...his way. After a few minutes and some frustration he threw that out because we had the wrong kind of tree for that option and not enough strands of lights (It would have worked with a less full tree...much less full tree). He handed the lights back to me and said, "Sorry I get all
Clark Griswold about it." In the end he liked how I did it, but next year we will be doing just white, green, and red lights; none of this multicolored business (he picked those out, btw). So, nothing major, but I never expected to get stumped over how to put lights on. Being married is so funny...and B Googles
everything
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| Cory hanging his ornaments on our tree. Thanks Cory! |
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| Now we just needed presents. Donations welcome! |
