oh Christmas tree...
Last Sunday we decided it would be a good time to get our tree. Since Matt has finals the next two weeks, his schedule was going to be crazy & we knew that we wouldn't have time to get one later. So, after church we went to the cutest Christmas tree farm! It had the big light bulbs & prettiest trees I ever did see. Then we asked how much & that is when we drove away. I feel like trees are going up in price EVERY YEAR! It is so hard to go to a Christmas tree lot when we used to cut our own tree down in Oregon. It was around $10-$20 then.
Our next stop was the same lot we went to last year. We knew they had good trees & we only paid $30 for our 6ft last year! We all got out of the car & headed to all the trees. We were the only ones there & I have this thing where I feel guilty about saying no or not buying anything when I am the only one around. Well, when we started looking at the trees, I noticed the price tags. $47-$65 per tree!!!! Say WHAT!? He raised the price so much & as we started to walk away (as fast as I could without looking at anyone), one guy yelled out if we needed help. Great. We told him that we didn't see anything & he kept saying he will find us something. Then, three of the guys come up and just stand there as we are talking to the main guy (talk about awkward). Finally, after he showed us a few trees, we had to finally break down & tell them that we can't pay that much. They said they could work with us & go down to $40. We still didn't want to pay that much, but we stuck around, mainly because we both felt bad & we wanted to see what he would show us. Well, for 40 bucks, we could get a 3-4ft charlie brown tree... No thanks. We FINALLY said adios & headed to Costco.
Costco was selling Christmas trees for $30 & they were 7/8ft trees! The only bummer part was that we couldn't see what they looked like because they already had them wrapped up (insert frowny face). But, after hours of searching, we picked the heaviest tree & headed home. When we untied the tree, it was beautiful! Hardly any bad spots & we were so thankful we only spent $30! Well, then we realized because the tree was so big, it didn't fit our metal tree stand. Matt had to go back into town & get a new one. When he brought it back home, we put the tree in & he was tightening the screws in the tree, when all of a sudden, the plastic tree stand broke. Then the tree started to fall down & we had to quickly lean it against the wall. Matt had to then go back into town & get ANOTHER tree stand. This time it worked and we decorated our beautiful tree after Ollie woke up & he put up the star.
The next day, Matt checked the water level to see if the tree needed more water & it was at the same level it was when we filled it up. We realized that they didn't saw off apart of the trunk & it had sealed before we put it in water (insert crying face). So, now we have a potential fire hazard on our hands & so I only turn on the lights about an hour a day at night. I saw a video of a tree burning up in less than a minute & the house catching on fire, so ya, I am worried. The needles are everywhere & the tips of the branches are turning brown. We are so bummed, but there is nothing we can do.
At the end of the day, we just have to look at this experience and laugh. It is a beautiful tree, filled with all our memories hanging on almost every branch & silver tinsel glittering up the tree. We have colored lights because Matt didn't want white lights when we were first married (even though I wanted them), but now I am glad we have colored lights because it makes our tree feel like home.
In other news, our apartment complex is having a festive door contest & the winner gets a $100 Visa gift card. I have looked on Pinterest for a few ideas & I have been surveying the competition. Yes, I am weird & super competitive & would love that $100 for Christmas. We will see. Let me know if you guys have any ideas for me! But, for now, our home is decorated & Christmas presents are almost complete. This will be the first year that Matt and I are surprising each other with gifts (we always picked out our own), so I am excited to see what Matt gets me!
I hope you all are having fun with decorations & all the yummy baking! I am praying it snows for Christmas, but again, we will see!
