There is a tree standing in our living room and it took enormous effort on our part to accomplish this. In our search for the right artificial tree, we went to too many stores to count, and many stores more than once. We eventually decided on a tree that was 31% off and were pretty happy with the price. We brought it home and Joel unpacked it and set it up.......and then we realized there was no stand in the box. Say, what?
I mentioned to Joel that he should check to make sure the lights worked and he did. Then he drove across town back to the store receipt in hand, and returned home with a stand. Yay. He got the tree put together and plugged in the lights only to discover the top section of the tree did not light up! What????? It was late in the day and we could not agree on whether the whole tree should go back or just the top, so we decided to "sleep on it". The next day I agreed to just taking back the top of the tree, but Joel decided to exchange the whole tree. So he headed back to the store and came home with a new top section because he told them he wanted a new tree and they came back with just a new top! Whatever! He left the store tree in hand after making sure that the lights all worked!
A couple days later, so far, so good. It is lit, it is steady and straight in the stand, and our new tree is now holding it's place of honor. I confess though, that I have put off decorating it. I'm no longer holding my breath nor waiting for the next problem to pop up, but I am only cautiously optimistic.
So, our oldest son called and we told him about our journey with this tree......he suggested that maybe Jesus was trying to tell us something when so many things went wrong on our cross over into fake vs real. His argument was that there were no artificial trees around the stable when Jesus was born. Now, he knows full well there were no pine trees at the manger either, but you get the idea. Real trees please!!!
It truly has not been an easy choice to make. But here we are, staring at a Christmas tree in our living room with a long skinny trunk, that smells a little like fire retardant and looks just a little too perfect. In a couple more days, if nothing else goes wrong and we don't officially declare this tree of a "lemon" variety??? Then we will decorate it.
1 comment:
Christmas blessings to you and Joel Renee! I think the tree is so perfect; we went artificial years ago-due to my allergies and hubby's feelings that trees were too expensive to buy in northern California(they would run close to $150-200.)and would be dry by Christmas. I can understand your son's feeling, but for us it is so much easier and cleaner as well as frugal. This Sunday, my hubby(yes he is joining us)and the entire family-17 of us will attend my church Christmas Eve service. My daughters' families attend another church but decided to gift me with this so that we can all worship together. Hubby has not willingly gone to church to please me in over 18 yrs. We do go to weddings, the grands Christmas programs etc. so this is such a blessing to me. Praying he is touched.
Sending the richest of His blessings to you today and this Christmas.
Love,
Noreen
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