My New Tree

For as long as I can remember the day after Thanksgiving was the day we brought out the big boxes. Were these presents or treats? No, it was our tree. Now our tree did not look too glamorous in its box, but as soon as you matched up all the colors and spread the branches about a thousand times you ended up with a perfect little pine tree. Now, I have realized that not all trees are created equal, and apparently a lot of people already know this. My employer was nice enough to get me a fresh tree from the mountains. I don't really know what was in my head {most likely it looked a lot like my perfectly shaped fake tree} but lets just say the tree did not match my mental picture. The funny thing? People made comments to me about how great of a tree this was,how hard it was to find one "like this",  so I took it home to set it up. Turns out trees don't grow perfectly straight, or perfectly shaped {go figure} It took us about an hour just to get the tree to look somewhat straight{ did I mention I don't get home from work until 9pm?}. I then did my best to wrap around the lights and hung a few ornaments. I figured I would leave the rest until the next morning since it was getting late. As I came upstairs the next morning I saw a sad sight, my poor tree was slumped against the wall, all that hard work and the damn thing didn't even want to be kinda straight. I mess around with it for awhile and finally get it back to how it was {I think} I finish putting on the ornaments  and take a look. I think this tree will grow on me. No it is not the perfect shape, no it is not lush and full, but it is fresh and made by nature, it is unique. Yes, unique is the perfect word. Let's just hope this unique tree decides to stay in place this time. I really don't feel like setting up a tree everyday. We'll have to wait and see if this fresh tree will change my mind and have me searching the mountains for a perfect tree next year, or will I be searching the after Christmas clearance for a nice lush, perfectly shaped tree in a box? Only time will tell.

Kelly Callahan