Lovely Branches

Here she is, the lovely Schade family Christmas tree of 2013. She is a fakie, handed down from my grandmother, given to me about four years ago and used only once previously, for one night at a party. She is little over six feet tall and annoyingly symmetrical. No lilting or tilting to one side on this girl. When I pulled her out she was a little dusty, but all her lights are still working, so guess what--she'll do! 

We are usually real tree people, habitually real tree people, but just haven't had the place for one this year. We decided instead, to save the money and work with what we already had. I miss the smell of a real tree, I miss the awkward little angles and holes you have to hide with a real tree. I do NOT miss crawling back and under there to try and give a real tree water. I always ended up knocking things down, sap prevalent and sticking to me, spilling the water on the carpet, and coming out with ornaments in my hair. That is one Holiday tradition I am glad to do without.

Regardless of all the faults of this fake tree in my eyes though, KB adores it. He will sit, staring up at those lights with the gleam reflecting in his eyes. I can tell he is enamored. To him this fake tree brought magic, the real life magic of Christmas Spirit into our home. Last night, while I hustled and bustled to cook dinner, he simply lay there under the lit branches in our otherwise dark living room. He was so quiet and the peace it brought reminded me what this Season is all about: love, family, closeness, and good will. Not real trees, thank goodness!

Oh yes, Christmas is in full swing around here and we are loving it up. Except for Pepper of course. She barely tolerated the photo and could care less about our beautiful tree. What a Scrooge!