Friday, November 23, 2007

My Tree

Happy Day After Thanksgiving, everyone! And, I guess by extension, Happy Belated Thanksgiving!
Today I did a bit of shopping (although I did not get up at 4am like the crazies- I went around 10:30am and still caught some good sales). But all of that was just filling before I got to put up My Tree.

No, no, not "my tree." My Tree. Capitals. I love this artificial tree more than any foliage living or fake in the world. My tree has been in my family for ten years or more- I can't really remember. It is a complicated tree. You individually shape and place every single branch on the tree. It takes hours. But the results are amazing. I took over the building of My Tree from my parents at about age 16, and put it up every year thereafter. It was a yearly labor of love and frustration. As I was leaving college for Boston and law school, I told my parents that if they ever decided they no longer wanted the tree-- or if they so much as failed to put it up one year-- I wanted it. And, only a year after I left, they bought an easier artificial tree and shipped My Tree to me.

And today I put it up. Beautiful, frustrating, wonderful Tree. Even the cats somehow sense that this Tree is something to be honored and respected, not climbed or chewed upon. They reverently scoot past it, probably because I turn into a shouting and foaming lunatic if they so much as pause to sniff it.


My Tree

Oh happy day. Black Friday is looking pretty bright.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous. I hope that our tree looks as good. I'm literally about to start shaping every branch of our tree as soon as I finish typing this. I'll post a picture. :)

Quirky said...

May you and the Tree be forever happy. It's chewed up my arms a few to many times for me. I will stick with the live tree, which takes me all of about 10 minutes to drag in and dunk into the tree stand.

Anonymous said...

It's so pretty. I think I want it back!
j.k.