Faux Fir

for the 1st time ever, i have a fake christmas tree.

i'm not happy about it.

see, right now the puppy is taking up alot of room (yes, i know he's not even 3lbs, but he's got a pen and a crate and a wee-wee-pad holder, so that little dust puppy takes up about half the living room). whatever space he's not taking up is made up with furniture. big, heavy, pine furniture.

this does not leave alot of room for a normal sized christmas tree. So, in an effort to still maintain our christmas traditions, we went to Target yesterday and bought a 4', pre-lighted, table-top tree.

we always had a real tree when i was a kid. it was one of those things that really meant christmas to me; going to a tree lot and picking one out, tying it to the roof of the car and driving home. the smell that would linger in the house till the holiday was over, mingled with the holiday candles (bayberry and apple), is a vivid sensory memory from my childhood. yes we lived in brooklyn, in an apartment, but we had that piece of "country christmas" in our living room. i always felt bad when i'd walk into a friend's house and they had a fake tree.

i'm pretty sure we won't be able to fit all our ornaments on it, but it's better than no tree at all, i guess. plus, at least there won't be any poisoned water for the puppy to slurp or a tree on the floor for him to pee on. and yes, i'll admit, that it'll be nice not to be vacuuming up needles in august and not worry about my husband knocking the fully decorated tree over while trying to fill the water trough (like last year). a table-top tree is far more practical than a real one. there's also no worry of it bursting into flames or dying a week before christmas (like last year's). yup, definitely more practical.

i guess that's what happens when you get older and married; you get practical. i just hope it doesn't mean you have to give and receive practical gifts, like socks and undershirts. that would really suck.