Christmas Sacrilege

My memories of getting the Christmas tree when I was a kid include bundling up and driving to the tree farm where we all picked out the one we wanted and then my dad cut it down with the saw he brought.

Darren's tradition involved driving to the grocery store and choosing one of the hundreds of trees wrapped up with twine and shoving it in the trunk of the family car. I felt my memories were superior and more Christmasy so I told him that our kids should have the benefit of being out in the cold, surrounded by the piney scents of fresh trees with other bundled up Merry souls all searching for the perfect tree for us. We did that for a few years, and while it felt very festive, I am not thrilled with the $75 that ends up all brown and messy on the side of the house until we move and finally have somebody haul it off.

So maybe what I did today isn't as much of a surprise as I would have thought. I was looking at one of my favorite blogs this morning and saw a great picture of an antique silver artificial tree ... and I thought, "Hmmm."

I looked around online and saw that while there are plenty of hideously ugly prelit green trees available, anything stylish or cool isn't as easy to find. But this is how the crack in my brain formed and the acceptance of the possibility of an artificial tree seeped in.

I still had some gifts on my list to purchase so Frances and I headed downtown to one of my favorite stores, Capital Iron. And there I saw it. A 7' tall artificial Noble Fir in ..... BLACK.

Black! It's SO GORGEOUS! I didn't know I could feel this way about a piece of plastic. Well, that's not totally true - I am also in love with melamine, but this is different because an artificial tree is just not traditional! Not for me. But it's the new way.

It came in a box. A little stand and three parts to the tree that all fit right together. The branches fold down and then each sprig bends out to make the tree look full. The ornaments stand out so nicely against the dark needles. It's light, it doesn't shed, and we'll be able to use it until we're sick of it. Enough talking about it - loooooooook!







They also had these really pretty little feather trees, about 18" high for $13. I got two.