My cousin Kelly and I live with our uncle. We thought it would be nice if we went and got a tree and put it up and had it decorated when he and his son came home this weekend. you know, a nice surprise. (Not mentioning we wanted to do it for us too.)
So we go to the tree lot today, which is of course the coldest day this week, and it was raining like insane people. We finally found the perfect tree, and it was relatively inexpensive. Because the tree was wet, we wanted to tie it to the top of my van. So we lifted it up there and tried to tie it down, but it wasn't working, so we had to pull it down, and shove it in my van and the trunk wouldnt shut, of course, so we had to tie it down.
We stop at the store to pick up a tree stand, some lights, and some ornaments. When we got back out, my car had died. Because my trunk was open, the interior lights had been on the whole time we were inside, and it drained the battery. Blessings to the stranger who got out of his car and helped us jump it.
We get back to my uncles house, and put the tree in between the two back doors, so it could dry out. I call my brother and ask him to help us get it in the tree stand. He agrees and says he'll be over after he gets off work.
An hour after he's supposed to be here, he calls me back.
"I can't find my coat. I think it's in my car, and I let Tommy use it for work. So I'm not coming."
Poo-head.
So when I go to open the backdoor to get the tree from the entryway, I can't open the door. It opens outwards, and the tree is blocking the door. So I send Kelly out around the house to pull the tree out of the way so I can open the door so we can get it in the house. After 10 minutes of pushing and pulling we finally get it through the door, and into the tree stand. Kelly is holding it upright, and I'm trying to get the screws in tight. After an hour we finally get it tight enough. But the tree was too close to the corner, so we had to pull it out. Guess what happened when kelly reached into the tree and pushed? It fell over.
So we had to rescrew it in again, this time it took much longer, and as we were stringing the lights up, it started to lean again.
"It's crooked again." Kelly said.
"Let's just finish the lights, and we'll get it uncrooked." I told her.
We had this particular conversation about twelve times.
Finally we finish with the lights, but the tree looked a little bare, so we decided to get more lights. So we go and get the lights, and i get something to help me keep the tree upright.
We get back to the house and I take my secret weapon out of the shopping bag.
"Tree," I say, "meet styrofoam(sp?)."
I know, it's such a girl thing to do, but I will have you know that that tree is now sturdy as a rock and beautifully decorated in red and white lights, tinsel, bows, various colored ornaments, and a pretty angel on top. It's the best tree EVER.
And I found out I'm allergic to pine needles.
No wonder I have a headache.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:No wonder I have a headache.
Well if it wasn't the tree, all the ing, is probably a contributing factor.
Posted by Nellie Bly (Member # 9129) on :
it's not my fault every person I encountered today made me want to . I showed great restraint with my limited ing, I think.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
My family avoided your issues by switching to an artificial prelit tree. Which I'll probably have some day when I have kids, though one year or two I might get a real tree. It's a combination of being environmentally conscious and lazy.
I'm always blown away by old timey Christmas movies like White Christmas where there are REAL candles on Christmas trees. That looks like an inferno waiting to happen.
Posted by Nellie Bly (Member # 9129) on :
My cousin and I thought about a fake tree, but the cheapest we could find of the size we wanted was more than $200. Being poor college students, we opted for the $19 real tree. At least we don't neet to buy any air freshener this month.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
My brother and I are both allergic to trees (well, I'm only allergic to fir, he's allergic to both fir and pine, but I have no doubt if I kept getting pine I'd soon be allergic to that, too.) So it's fake trees all the way for us. Although right now we have no room, so our tree is a 3-ft. fiber-optic tree that sits on a table.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
What about spruce?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
They sell spruce for Christmas trees?
Well, I've never seen it. But if I did use it, I've no doubt that within five years of bringing them into my home, I'd be allergic. I'm very sensitive to tree and plant pollens and stuff; I develop new allergies all the time.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
(Also, I'm fairly sure that close contact with most trees sets off my daughter's eczema.)
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
We have an antique Christmas Tree.
It belonged to my wife's grandmother.
Oh, just in case you were worrying, its artificial.
It is also on a base that revolves (which makes stringing the lights real easy.).
Oh, just in case you were worrying, it has an interesting electrical connection that revolves with the tree, so that the lights don't get all wound up like a top.
It also plays music, like a music box, which is pretty and festive and really gets annoying quickly.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
My dad has an aluminum tree with a colorwheel.
It's teh awesomest.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
My Daughter's Grandmother gave her one of the aluminum trees with a colorwheel. Grandpa was a master carpenter and very caring of his tools. He kept the tree the same way. Each branch still has the original paper sleeve that it had when it was purchased. The tree, and the colorwheel are still in pristine original boxes. She loves it. It is, even now, decked out in all purple glass balls. it is truely awesome. I do understand that there is a modern version that is for sale this year. It comes in baked on color.
[ December 01, 2006, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: Artemisia Tridentata ]
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: My dad has an aluminum tree with a colorwheel.
It's teh awesomest.
We had one of those when I was a little kid. I loved that thing. It was very cool.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: They sell spruce for Christmas trees?
Our Christmas tree is a blue spruce. They have such nice shapes to them.
![[Wall Bash]](graemlins/wallbash.gif)
Because my trunk was open, the interior lights had been on the whole time we were inside, and it drained the battery. Blessings to the stranger who got out of his car and helped us jump it.![[Frown]](frown.gif)
I'm very sensitive to tree and plant pollens and stuff; I develop new allergies all the time.