This is the sequel to the Xmas tree debacle of 2014, And Then There Were Two
Last November while putting up a tiny tree in our NY apartment, a commercial for real-looking Christmas trees, the kind they use on sets on TV, came on the TV. When the big Christmas tree debacle happened a few weeks later, I couldn’t remember the site.
The week before Thanksgiving the commercial was back on TV. I stopped what I was doing and went right to the site, thinking these trees will be outrageously priced and I’ll never be able to afford them. What a pleasant surprise I got. They were having a two day sale with free shipping. My perfect, 6 1/2 foot blue spruce was on sale for $179. I immediately pushed “add to cart” and completed my order. THIS year I was not living with that hideous oversized dark green monster sitting next to my fireplace.
After buying it, I was a bit anxious. When I told my husband I bought a new tree, he just laughed and said he sincerely hoped it would be what I wanted. Thoughts of “Oh my, I just spent another $179 on a tree, there are now two of them sitting in my basement, and what if this one is a big disappointment?
The next night when I came home from work my new tree was sitting on my porch. Not only did I get free shipping, but it came the next day. I was so excited I dragged the box into the house and opened it up before I even took off my coat. And what did I see? Perfect, realistic slim branches peeking out from under the cardboard. I quickly took a pic and texted it to my husband and told him I think it’s going to be so pretty. He said, “Great! We’ll put it up this weekend!” I answered back, “We are soooo putting up this tree this weekend!”
I planned the day. Saturday we would go get the wreath for the outside of the house, decorate the light pole and then put on mulled wine and the new Adele album and stay inside the rest of the day and put up this magnificent tree. The day went as planned. When it was time to open up the box and remove the tree parts, we found a folder – glossy, with color pics, a letter congratulating us on our purchase of such a prized tree and a booklet describing just how to assemble and shape our little beauty. After all, they said, the beauty of the tree lies in the shaping. Oh that wasn’t all there was in the box. In a little plastic bag there were two pair of gray silk gloves – two sizes – to be worn while performing the shaping and a note saying there is a video online to describe the proper way to do it.
Well needless to say we didn’t bother with the video. My husband and I have spent 40 Christmases putting up trees and we certainly know how to go about shaping a tree. We donned our silk gloves, set the bottom of the tree in the stand and began the tedious work of opening up each branch. I still had apprehensions of what the final product would look like. Slowly the bottom half bloomed. Next, section 2 began taking shape. After about 40 minutes we were finishing the top. When we stood back to take a look, I was so happy. Yes, THIS is the tree I had pictured in my head.
During this procedure, my daughter texted me a picture of her tree she had just assembled and asked why she didn’t get silk gloves with her tree. I told her because she got hers from her sister and she’s lucky it has branches.
Pouring some more mulled wine, we began the lights. I bought 10 boxes of tiny clear lights ($1.99 Xmas Tree Shop) and we used five. The big moment came to plug them in. Instead of the Ahhh… I was waiting for, my husband said, “Hey, the top part isn’t lit.” Great. Off with the top part and on with a new set. Finally we got our Ahhh… moment. It looked beautiful.
Pouring another mug of mug of mulled wine, we finished the decorations. Oh my…. it was perfect. It looked exactly like my bug tree from last year.
And so, as another day goes by, some things are really worth working and waiting for, and…I have written.
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