Monday, December 18, 2006

No Tree Over $35.00...

...no matter what the tag says.

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The one advantage to waiting until the week before Christmas to buy a tree is that you can usually find a good deal. This year, because we've been traveling so much, we had no choice but to wait. Our family tradition is to decorate the tree together, so that won't happen until John returns home from his business trip. I suppose it wouldn't be a good idea to leave it undecorated, though I'm tempted to.

Recently at a party we were asked to share a favorite Christmas memory with everyone. We immediately thought of our first Christmas together as a married couple. We were poor college students then and couldn't justify blowing the budget on a tree until we were sure John would be employeed after graduation. The job offer came and we celebrated by shopping for a tree. With only $20 to spend, it was a challenge to find a fir tree (Scotch Pine would not satisfy my Vermont husband) that we could afford in South Texas. We finally found a beautiful tree with only one flaw--the top 1/3 of the tree was broken off! To balance out the missing top, I bought a large plastic doll with golden hair at the dollar store and transformed it into an angel. The only real money we spent on decorating the tree was for the lights. What a sight that tree was! Yet, it will always be our favorite.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:05 PM

    I imagine trees ARE expensive where you are! They can be fairly inexpensive here, depending upon where you go. Due to the antics of our cats, though, we've had to settle for artificial trees for a while. No smell! :-((

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  2. Anonymous1:27 PM

    Your tree looks lovely! What a great first tree story.

    We could not afford a tree our first Christmas so made one with the many wooden spoons we had received as wedding gifts. I ran across a photo of it just the other day.

    Merry Christmas

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  3. Christmas' past are so fun to remember. The smells of baking, the lights and decorations and the laughter of the kids in our family are some of my favorites. You truly made the best of the situation with that tree...no wonder it is memorable.

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  4. Aww! What a sweet story!
    Great tree pic!

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  5. Anonymous4:21 PM

    Hi Tracy! This reminds me of some of our trees when we were students!

    I am sending the link for your blog to a friend of mine, Susan, who is a knitter, weaver, spinner, etc. I think she will enjoy it. Watch for her!

    Donna C

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  6. Anonymous7:01 PM

    Those kind of memories are the ones that we hold dearest to our hearts :-)

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  7. Anonymous8:21 PM

    I love the story of your first Christmas. We got married while we were still in college too. Totally broke but very happy.

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  8. That is so funny, because I JUST got through watching "Charlie Brown Christmas" about 10 minutes ago...

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Thank you for commenting!
~Tracy

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