The Tree

   For most of the month C and I have been in discussions about the Christmas tree. We were worried about the the kittens drinking the tree water. We were also worried about two rambunctious kittens knocking over the tree. For weeks we vacillated between a real tree and an artificial one. I wanted a real tree as I believed they are less able to be tipped and because I don't like artificial trees. On the other hand, I did understand that having an artificial tree would remove the danger of tree water although I do think the tipping issue would be worse.

   We compromised by deciding to get a real tree, but a smaller one. We could put netting around the trunk the block the kittens from drinking the water. 

   When we went shopping for a tree, the selection was pretty picked over. That's not unusual, we don't put a tree up until a week or so before Christmas. Most of the tree were either too big or too expensive. I finally suggested we look at a large chain hardware store. There were trees there in the right price range and in the right size. We found a nice looking balsam to take home with us. The tree would definitely need some trimming. The top branches stuck up too high and the trunk was a bit crooked.

   We left the tree in our garage until yesterday. C got out his saw and trimmers and began to cut branches.  I was worried that he was going to cut too many off as the pile of branches got larger and larger. Then he cut the trunk. He had to cut past the crooked part which meant that he had to cut off at least six inches, maybe a bit more.

   When he was done we were left with a midget tree. It is about three and a half feet. I was upset. It was too small to be a good tree and definitely too small for most of our ornaments. I wasn't even sure lights would look good on it. 

    C got the tree into the stand and set it on the floor. I hated it. It was awful. I told C that we needed to put it on a table or something as it was just too small to sit on the floor. Plus I knew the kittens are large enough to play with it. C was concerned that the kittens would knock it off the table. I told him that he either needed to put it on a table or take it outside. We found an unused TV stand to put it on.

   I took out the new LED lights we bought a month ago. We had purchased them thinking that we would have a larger tree. Fortunately, there were two strings of lights. I took them out of the box and plugged in one of them. It worked, but they were hideous. I was crushed. The bulb was clear with a small colored diode inside. It didn't look like the picture on the box or the light display in the store. I was ready to take the tree outside and just not have one this year. Better to have no tree than to have an awful mess.

   C wanted to put the lights on the tree. He thought they would probably look better once they were unrolled and stretched out. He was right. Once we got the string on the tree, it looked better. The string had exactly the right amount of lights. 

   Once I saw the tree with the lights on it, it began to grow on me. Yes, it was not the grand tree that we usually have, but it's a nice little tree. We're going to have to be careful with ornaments, the larges ones will look bad on it. We'll leave the glass balls off this year so the kittens will not be tempted by them. 

   This morning I found another advantage of having a small tree on a table. I don't have to get on the floor to add water.  I wonder if I could find a small tree in a pot for next year?.....