Saturday, December 19, 2009

Celebrating The Holidays With Ease

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Introducing...our lovely, beautiful tree...a view from the street.

In November, I made a presentation to some employees of Chesapeake Energy. The topic. De-stressing the Holidays.

Wished I had already solved my Christmas tree dilemma by then. It would have made a great slide!


And now for the back story...


It's been a busy two months. So busy in fact that my family and I couldn't schedule a day to buy the tree and pull out the decorations. I decided to put my own advice to work...about de-stressing and cutting back during the holidays, if life was too crazy.

Last weekend, and feeling a little desperate about the situation, we purchased a fake tree.

Since my daughter was about three, we've always had a live tree. We also decorate the house with all the ceramic and related holiday themed trinkets.

This year, we are sort of acting like the Kranks (well...at least in the beginning of the story). Although not actually "skipping Christmas," we aren't doing it up in our usual fashion.

So, this purchasing a fake something is a new thing.

And then I spotted it. The price was reasonable. It actually cost less than our annual live tree purchase.

"I'll take it," I said to the store clerk.

"Oh, that? The Charlie Brown tree?"


"Charlie Brown? Really? But I like it."

"Me too," my daughter said.

And so my daughter and I left the store with our Charlie Brown tree.

We put it up in 10 minutes. Ten minutes. I danced with glee for what seemed like hours!

From the curb at night, it looks like we have the most fabulous tree ever (see picture above). The reality is (in the light of day)...it really is Charlie Brown "ish."

See for yourself what I mean.


I don't know about you, but I love our Charlie Brown tree.

6 comments:

Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

I love your Charlie Brown tree, too. We had a very tall, thin tree for years. Ornaments from all around the world. Even dolls. But now I think I've been treed out. This solves the problem. Beautiful. Sharing with others. but looks like not a lot of work.

Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Blogging writing tips at Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites pick www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com

Camellia said...

I saw this report of tree on facebook. I love this tree. I only decorate my buffet for christmas and I love it. I use mostly a gold runner and my twelve days of christmas cups. My husband hates the holidays and decorations and the kids come and go. It makes me happy. Here's to your great tree.

Beth Blair said...

I've never seen those trees! You can't even tell from the street. That's amazing. We are the opposite. We've had a fake tree since I was pregnant with my first baby (6 years ago) and couldn't handle any scents - good or bad. This year we bought our first "real" tree since before we had our two. The funny part...we've had it for two weeks and just added some lights today. Our decorations are buried in the garage - along with tons of other boxes from our move. We don't mind. It makes for a memorable year.

linda allen said...

Great idea - simple is better (and easier)! Even Charlie Brown trees need love and bling!

Happy Holidays!

Linda

Jewel Sample said...

Indeed Charlie Brown would agree that less is better. Lucy on the other hand would probably comment with all of her emotion, "Arrrgh!" then add some sort of ornament so she could say she made Charlie Brown's Christmas so much better. What would we do without the Lucys and Charlie Browns who make the world so much more interesting. Thanks for the memories.

Jennifer said...

Never seen this before, I didn't even get the joke of the Charlie Brown tree. From the 1st picture it looked like a regular tree but its an awesome way to see it. Well hope you have a Merry Christmas to you and your family. Love the tree!!!

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