The tilted and naked tree

We promised the girls we would put up our Christmas tree this year. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and having a tree is part of the tradition. But we haven't put it up for the last couple of years for a variety of reasons. Last year, Runway (our Australian Shepherd) was new to our house and she chews on everything. We were totally afraid of putting up the tree only to have it completely destroyed by the dog while we were out. The year before, it was buried in the garage and we didn't want to dig it out. The year before that, I was 9 months pregnant and just didn't feel like putting up the tree. The tree is now UP!

There are a couple of challenges with our tree. The biggest problem is that the stand it came with is missing. It's an artificial tree, but I honestly don't remember if the person who gave it to us also gave us the stand. I have tried and tried to find an artificial tree stand, but apparently all fake tree manufacturers assume that if people never lose pieces, because I have yet to find any kind of stand that is made for my fake tree. Lots of real tree stands, in all shapes and sizes, but no stands for artificial trees. We're using a real tree stand, but it doesn't stay upright at all and it has to be propped up against the wall and it tilts to the side. It looks rather strange.

The second problem is that we have no real decorations. I should have started collecting ornaments when the kids were babies, but I didn't. For a while we were getting those cheap ornaments from Walmart, but they break too easily and we keep losing the hooks. Most of the ones we had left have broken, either because of the dogs or the curious little boy of the house. Whatever the reason, our tree is mostly naked. It has great lights, so it's more like being covered with a fig leaf, but we just call it naked.

But we have a solution. It's called the day after Christmas sales!!! We're going to hit a Target or something this weekend and stock up. We hope the trees will be 75% off (it better come with a stand) and we'll see what kinds of ornaments are left. Tinsel, wreaths, decorations - they're all on the list. Then we'll shove it all in the garage and hope we feel like putting it up next year!

Merry Christmas everyone!