Angie at Baby Cheapskate posted a reader question about Christmas trees that reminded me of my own dilemma two years ago. Alex was nine months old at his first Christmas. He was on the verge of walking, and as curious as can be. He loved climbing and touched everything.As much as I wanted a live Christmas tree, I knew it would be too dangerous, especially since we didn't have space to elevate it and anchor it to a wall the way my friend Ruth did. Alex was all too likely to pull the tree down on himself or put some pine needles in his mouth. Going without a tree wasn't an option, so I bought a small fake tree for $10 at Target.
The tree goes on top of a medium-size bookcase in our dining room (along with the menorah, since we honor both of our families' traditions). The kids can't reach it, and I still get to decorate. I miss the larger tree with its glorious decorations and heavenly smell, but I know that it'll be a few more years before I'll be comfortable having a live tree on the living room floor again. And in the meantime, I do appreciate how quickly I can put the tree up and take it down, and with minimal mess to boot, since I only hang a few ornaments and a garland. Plus the fake tree requires no water and doesn't shed pine needles all over the floor. At this time of year, anything I can knock off my to-do list is something to be grateful for. In fact, even when I can have a live tree again, I'm not sure that I'll do it.
2 comments:
Thanks for the great advice on this topic...I have been stressing about what to do this year with a 1 year old running around...Might I say a VERY curious one at that! Thanks Again!
sblilly14(@)yahoo(.)com
Sara - I'm glad you found this helpful. I wish I had the space to do what my friend does, with the elevated, anchored tree. I would at least think about it - but the way I do things now really is marvelously low-stress.
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