The Holiday Spirit
Did anyone else suddenly look up and realize Thanksgiving is next week?? How is that possible? Wasn’t Halloween like last week? As soon as I realized this, my mind immediately skipped over Thanksgiving and went straight to I NEED TO BUY CHRISTMAS CARDS RIGHT NOW!!!
I’m the kind of person who buys, writes, and addresses her cards way early just so that it’s done and I don’t have to worry about forgetting and having to send them out after New Years. Last year I had my cards done before Thanksgiving (but don’t worry, I didn’t send them out until early December—being a psycho and announcing to everyone on your Christmas card list that you’re a psycho are two different things).
So anyway, this threw me into a panic about how I needed to start getting for Christmas RIGHT NOW. And so I decided to order myself a tree. The past few years we’ve bought little potted Christmas trees, hoping to keep them for years to come. Both years, we’ve killed them before January.
So this year I decided fake might be better for us, and then I decided if you’re gonna go fake, you’ve gotta go all out. I don’t want a fake tree that wants to be real, I want a fake tree that revels in what it is. So I went online and ordered myself the shiny silver monstrosity up there in the corner.
It’s a tree made of sparkly silver tinsel! How cool/ugly is that? I love it.
Or loved it, that is, until I was convinced my friend to come to Target with me and buy Christmas cards (they have really cute, cheap cards if you’re in the market for some) last night and spotted this. 
I literally stopped in the aisle and said “THAT is what I want!” My friend looked around in confusion, probably trying to convince herself that I wasn’t honestly pointing to a 4-foot sparkly PINK tinsel tree. Too bad for her, I was.
I’m not sure when I developed this love for all things ridiculously ugly. (I suppose some might call it a finely developed sense of irony.) But I knew that I really wanted this tree. Nothing could say “Christ was born today” better than this tree.
Well, then I was thrown into a dilemma. I’d already ordered the silver tree; could I get the pink one too? I’d like to point out, by the way, that the pink tree is currently sold out online; apparently I am not the only one who fell in love with this hideous thing.
Anyway, I wandered up and down the card aisle muttering under my breath, and finally called Wayne to see what he thought. Wayne, (have I mentioned how much I love this man?) very calmly told me that he didn’t mind having a pink Christmas tree, as long as I took care of returning whichever one I decided I didn’t want. Apparently one hideously garish tinsel tree is ok; two is over the top.
In the end, I left Target without buying the pink tree. I think in the long run, we’ll get more years out of the silver one. But man oh man, I was tempted. If anyone out there is looking for a way to liven up your holiday decorations, (May?) check it out and send pictures.
And if see where my taste went, can you send it back my way?
11 comments:
Anne, I think there is hope for you, even with the silver tree. My mother grew up with a silver tree like that, BUT they had a fabulous color wheel that would make the tree different colors every ten seconds. Find one of those, and you're set!
I like a nice fake green tree with lots of weird lights and tacky ornaments on it. I'm not a big fan of single color trees or those "theme" trees that seem to be so popular now.
Since mine and my sister's first Christmas, my parent's have bought us each an ornament of varying tackiness so that once we had our own tree we wouldn't have to start with nothing like they did.
And yeah, how did Thanksgiving sneak up so fast. Probably because here it was like 70 degrees untila week ago. I bet the Pilgrims would have loved that.
OMG. A color wheel! Where can I get one of those? I'll have to check ebay. That's so perfect!
I love Christmastime. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I totally need to get started on my Christmas cards too (though I do have almost all my shopping done). :)
We never had outrageous Christmas stuff at our house. Last year, though, my dad had just had surgery and was using a walker to get around their house. So instead of one Christmas tree that would get in his way and make it hard to get around, his wife got a ton of little trees to stick in the corner or on top of tables. They were made of buttons or feathers or tin - whatever!
For our youth group Christmas party one year, we armed four teams with video cameras and had them to a scavenger hunt. One of the items that would get them bonus points was to find the tackiest Christmas lights and video tape the house. We had some great entries.
And while is comment is extremely long, I can't help it. I need to request a video to be posted on your blog. Challenge: go out to YouTube and find a video of that house that they timed the Christmas lights to classical music. I can't help it - I love it!
AND
I finally got around to posting about your lovely books. It's on by blog here: http://www.sarahbaar.blogspot.com/
My third grade teacher put up a silver tinsel tree (just like yours) in the classroom. I absolutely loved it. In fact, I loved it so much, that when I had the opportunity to buy my own tree for my own place, I bought one similar - it's white tinsel. I live in Houston, where we don't have white Christmases, but in my house...it's always a white Christmas! Be sure and post pictures of your beautiful silver tree.
Anne, that pink tree is....something else. I'm not sure what words to use. :) But you have quite a tolerant husband if he would have let you have that! :)
I SO want to get a fake tree - easier, and less mess. I grew up with a fake tree and they don't bother me. But my husband INSISTS on a real tree. Unfortunately, I can't bring him over to my side.
Wow. I'm part of a dying breed of person who 1) does not send out Christmas cards and 2) ALWAYS gets a real tree. Always, always, always. I just can't get over the way it smells.
But I love silver and pink trees. I mean, like Anne, if I was going to get a fake one, I'd go for it.
Sarah, thanks for your awesome post about our books! Now I'm going to have a very happy Thursday indeed.
You have me laughing out loud here, Anne. I love all things pink, including a Christmas tree. If I were with you in Target, I'm sure I could have persuaded you to ditch the silver one. :)
I love your tinsel tree! I am currently in the market for a vintage aluminum Christmas tree. I already have the color wheel - I found it in my grandma's attic.
If you love aluminum trees check out this website: http://www.aluminumtree.com/ This guy has a collection of aluminum trees and opened a museum of them! Each tree has a different theme. Quite cool.
Katherine, that museum is so cool! I want to go. Good luck with your quest!
Actually, I bought the pink aluminum tree from Target yesterday! I am so thrilled with it, and my family just laughed and said "Whatever you want, Mom!"
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