Our Halls Are Decked and This Year We're Fakin' It

Adam was home from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through the weekend. I love having him home. {deep sigh} Ah, to be independently wealthy! But I digress. With an extra adult around to keep the crazies to a minimum, we were able to get the house decorated and together for the Christmas holiday by the Saturday following Thanksgiving. We've got to get the most out of all the extra, festive, Christmas-themed decor, right?! I so love this time of year!

Adam had put the lights on the house the week before Thanksgiving. We never know when the weather is going to turn here (although it looks like it might not at all this year! grrrrr.), so we wanted to get the house done on a nice, warmish Saturday, but the house was all he did. The trees/bushes still were wanting, so following Thanksgiving, Adam, with much help from Ben (who loves all things manly and daring), got the trees all wrapped in their colorful robes while I worked on the interior lighting around the windows. Growing up, Adam's mom always did the bushes and trees each in one solid color but with a different color on each. Adam always loved the way that looked and has carried on that tradition to our yard. My parents always just did white lights, and I loved the quiet, pure brightness of it, so we carried that tradition on to our house. Our traditions have mingled. We are slowly making the transition to all LED, so for now we've got some "yellow" white lights and some "white" white lights. Maybe they are a little clashing, but oh well! I think it all looks great.

While in the tree "helping" dad put up the lights, Ben and Josh turned the tree into a house. Each branch was designated a specific room. My favorite was the limb that Josh is perched upon in the photo. That's the work-out branch. Best used for pull-ups, as Josh is demonstrating.

Here's the house, all lit up! Please excuse the annoying Subaru wagon in the driveway. It's battery had died so it had no way to move itself into the garage. The battery has now been replaced and the Subaru is happily parked in the garage again, but I'm too lazy to leave my chair and don't want to get cold, so I'm not going out to take a second picture. Just imagine it's not there. :) Plus, the lights are off in the second upstairs window because that's Josh and Luke's room and they won't sleep with the lights on, too much like a party. But you can get the idea well enough. Ooooh, pretty!

The Christmas Tree through the front window...so lovely!

On the subject of Christmas Trees, imagine it's Christmas, 2004. Provo, Utah. A family of five living in a tiny little 850 square foot apartment. That was us, the Conlin Chaos, during Adam's second year of MBA school at BYU. We had traveled home to Washington for the first Christmas we had out there, but the second year Josh was just a teeny two-month-old and I wasn't up for the drive. So we stayed put, and my mom and dad and sis and "the ex" flew out to see us for a wonderful, snowy Utah Christmas. Our apartment was so small that we had very little room for a tree. In addition, the student housing complex we lived in would not allow real trees due to the fire hazard they present. But with family coming, we had to have a tree!

Fortunately we had some friends who were traveling for the holidays who had a fake tree we could borrow. The best part, we only put the front half of the limbs on so we could push the other flat side back against the wall. The half-tree fit perfectly...and it began Adam's love for "the fake tree." Ever since then he has not-so-subtly dropped hints that he would like to one day have a fake tree instead of a real one; hints such as, "Let's get a fake tree this year."

But no. I love going to live tree lots for the hunt! Walking around, choosing just the right one. Then cutting them down, letting the boys take turns at the saw. And two years ago when we got to go to the woods for a tree...amazing! I loved that adventure! Even if the tree was a little sparse.

But here, in CO, things that were once living don't last long, no matter how much water you give them. The temperatures on any given day swing so much, super cold, then super hot. Especially for a tree sitting in a window space. And it's SO dry here living things practically mummify in the winter. So if you put your tree up in early December, by the time Christmas rolls around the tree isn't looking so hot. As a matter of fact, it looks awful, and is dropping needles like crazy. Which wouldn't be too bad, because come Christmas the tree's use is over. But my biggest fear is that it might catch fire and burn our house to the ground.

And that's kind of what sold me. Yes, I gave in. This year Adam got his fake tree. And I have to admit. It looks pretty nice! (as long as you don't look too closely)

There was a proviso to this little fake tree agreement. We are getting a small real tree for the basement. We are hoping to go up to the woods again, but we have to find the time in the busy (but fun!) December weeks. It will probably be the weekend before Christmas, which means the tree will not be a tinder box by the time Christmas arrives. And my sense of tradition and the joys of family tree hunts will be satisfied. But at the same time I don't have to worry about my house burning down. Hey, don't judge me. :)

My fears realized: Will the new tradition be matching the proper color tape on the fake limb to the same color on the fake trunk? Nooooo! Seriously though, the boys loved assembling and fluffing out the fakie!And as always, decorating the tree was steeped in memories and laughter, questions of "where did I get this one again?' and exclamations of "I made this for you!" Real or fake...THAT is what a Christmas Tree is all about!