For most of the forty-seven Christmases my husband and I have been married, we have had a real Christmas tree. Even many of the years when we traveled across the country to celebrate, we bought and decorated a real tree. There were a few seasons when we skipped the tradition, but not many.
Some years, I raised the subject of buying an artificial tree. Usually, those were years when December was bitter cold, or when we left it to the last weekend before Christmas when only the Charlie Brown trees were left on the lot.
But my husband always demurred. “I like real trees,” he declared. And, since he usually bought the tree with our children and did the heavy work of setting it up, he got his way on this issue. All I had to do was decorate it, which was the same amount of work whether or not the tree was real.
After we both retired, my husband and I developed a process for getting our annual tree—go to Home Depot in mid-week in mid-December, and buy a six-to-seven-foot-tall Fraser Fir. Frasers are pretty, they have thick branches, and they don’t drop too many needles. Once we had the tree standing in our home, I dragged out our two bins of ornaments and assorted other boxes of Christmas paraphernalia and decorated the house, including the tree.
After Christmas 2023, knowing that we would likely move in 2024, I culled our ornaments and holiday decorations. I wanted everything we kept to fit in the two plastic ornament bins. I shipped many ornaments to our children. The things I didn’t much care for, or had no emotional attachment to—as well as many things I did like but that were broken or showing their age—I gave to Goodwill. By the end of January, what was left fit comfortably in the two plastic bins.
As regular readers know, we moved to a retirement community this fall. Our apartment has about a third of the space of our last house. The two bins of Christmas decorations reside in a small storage unit in the complex’s garage. I pulled them out of storage right after Thanksgiving and put up the crèche.
But what to do with all the Hallmark ornaments I kept? The retirement community does not permit real Christmas trees or wreaths, deeming them a fire hazard. Understandable, when many residents in the multi-story complex have reduced mobility.
I asked my husband again, “What about an artificial tree? But it has to be small. We need to store it through the year.”
This year, he agreed.
So last Saturday, we made our annual trip to Home Depot for a Christmas tree. But this time the Fraser Fir we purchased was an artificial four-foot tree. It’s small, and it doesn’t smell of forests. But adorned with lights and ornaments, it is still festive. It took very little time to set up, and it breaks into parts to fit back in its box when the Christmas season is over.
I can look at this as the end of an era, the end of our independence in deciding for ourselves what risks to take, the end of longstanding family traditions. Or I can look at it as making the best of the life we now have and preserving the best part of our traditions.
And for me, the best part of Christmas is the memories, including memories of our past Christmas trees. For decades, we decorated our trees with our children, unwrapped the presents stored beneath those trees, and sang carols at the piano across the room from where the trees stood. The piano is gone, the real trees are gone, but the memories remain.
What memories do you have of Christmas trees?
My sister would often buy the Charlie Brown tree because she didn’t want it to feel bad! I think you made a great choice of your new artificial tree.
We always had real trees until one year a guest said, “what a nice artificial tree.” The tree was too perfect. Hmmm. I said “it’s real,” but the guest was out of earshot. I thought if real trees look like artificial trees, then perhaps we should buy fake tree that looks like a real tree. Today I have a white tree with twinkle lights embedded, I plug it in and love it.
As you can see, I stuck with evergreen color — as close to the real thing as we could get. I do like having the lights already on the tree.
I started buying artificial trees when I was in Uni, sick of the battle for a real tree. It was not worth the stress of searching for one. The big tree I bought then lasted for about 20 years. Then, the smaller ones which replaced it were flimsier and lasted 4-5 years each. Last year that we moved, we bought an even smaller one, as small as a bouquet of tall flowers, because it fits well where it had to stay. It is ok. The tradition counts and makes it festive.
You’re right, Marina — tradition does count!
I’m glad to know the trees last at least a few years. This 4-foot tree cost a little more than one 6-foot real tree. But over five years, we’d definitely save money.
We have had tabletop artificial trees in the past, but I gave those to my children with the miniature ornaments I’d given them over the years.
Hi Theresa, loved your Christmas tree post.
Yes, we always get a real tree for now…thanks to my husband. (Ace Hardware…I know you know.) 😉
Funny you mentioned memories because last year I did something I hadn’t done in years. When our guys were in elementary school, they each made tons of decorations I had saved. I wanted our grandchildren to see them so I surprised them by hanging all of them up. Ha! I didn’t know that they would think, but they actually liked it and had fun remembering when they made them. I won’t do it again this year but it sure put a smile on all our faces.
Have a wonderful Holiday Season, Theresa.
Rosie
Rosie, that is a lovely memory — a new memory of old memories. I hope you took pictures of all the decorations last year so you can bring to mind again their reactions.