Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Round 5: Christmas Trees

I have an almost unhealthy obsession with Christmas trees. Something about them just makes me happy all over. A few weeks ago, I ran to the grocery store for a few things and I saw a big truck unloading fresh-cut Christmas trees and I just grinned so big. And the air smelled AMAZING!!!!!! Yes, I am one of those great big Christmas dorks that actually goes around SMELLING trees. I can't help it. They just smell so fresh and clean and Christmasy! I blame my mother; every year when we have our tree, when they cut off the bottom for us, Dad hands it to Mom to smell. And when we trim the top of the tree so that the star will fit, he hands the bit he cut to her so she can smell it. Now we both smell it. And when the tree was still in the garage before we decorated it, I would go over and literally stick my face in the tree and inhale deeply. It is one of my very favorite things to do. Garfield calls it "tanking up on Christmas spirit". I agree.
Now, I'm pretty insistent on having a Christmas tree and decorating it. A real tree, not a fake one. Unless a fake one is just not feasible, ie college students, then it's okay. I don't blame anyone for not having a real tree; but in my opinion, fake trees are lesser creatures. That's just me. There's nothing quite like going to a tree farm and seeing all of the many different kinds of trees and trying to find just the right one for our family. Good memories there. Of course, nowadays my family goes to Lowe's for our tree and, as previously stated, it took us 5 minutes. But then, we are seasoned Christmas tree shoppers. We know what we like.
So cool. If you can do the tree farm, do it!
As for decorations, some people go for themes on their trees and make a huge deal out of the details and that it be perfect and for show. Great, good for you. Hey, I enjoy a nicely decorated tree every now and then, too. But my Christmas tree has the most random assortment of ornaments ever. Every year we get a new ornament, and every year we try to see how many we can fit on our tree before it looks ridiculous. And then we step back and see a tree full of childhood memories.
My favorite part of the tree, though, comes when all the decorations are up and the lights and everything, and we turn out all of the lights in the house except the tree and let the light from it fill the room. The walls are spattered with colors, shadows of needles, reflections from the ornaments... It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, and it never fails to make me happy and at peace.
I am also one of those people that wants to go to NYC just to see the tree at Rockafeller Center. Cuz I'm a dork.But look how pretty it is!
When I was I think 15, when we were in Chicago for our Connolly Family Christmas (I'll post about that later, it's always a WAY good time), we took a day and went up to Navy Pier, which is usually a summer thing, but we decided, hey, why not? And they had a Christmas tree special display room with displays from all over the world. I was in HEAVEN!!!! It was seriously SO STINKIN' COOL! But again, that's because I am a great big Christmas dork.

I just LOVE these trees! Note to future would-be-fiance I'm a sucker for Christmas trees!

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