Our Christmas Tree

Adam grew up with artificial trees, only. I grew up with real trees, only. He was gracious enough to let me have a real tree for this first Christmas together! We bought it today, from some Michigan guys who camp out in a church parking lot every December, sleeping and eating in a cold trailer.

It's a bit mis-shapen. Maybe you wouldn't notice that kind of thing. But my dad was very particular about our tree every year: it's shape, fullness, and symmetry... He still wanted the CHEAPEST tree possible, but each tree (in for example, the Home Depot parking lot) was carefully examined for quality.

I saw this tree, and I liked it right away. It's sort of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, though. This isn't its best angle -- it actually looks a little less skinny-on-top and fat-on-the-bottom in person. For some reason, I like that it's uneven and has holes in it. It's seems like a very honest tree.

We haven't decorated it. In this way, I am still like my dad. You let the tree "rest" for a day or two first, so the branches can "settle."

Here we are, in our apartment parking lot, bringing the tree inside.

Adam couldn't get over how weird it was to him to bring a real tree into our house. Or even to carry it. "It feels like I'm holding a bazooka!" he said. And so, he aimed it accordingly...