Advent Calendar - December 1 - Christmas Tree

Growing up, our family usually had an artificial Christmas tree, although I do remember the time when we tried to have a live tree.  I believe that the mess and the cleanup it caused was the reason that we were back to an artificial tree the next year.

As an adult, in my family we've always had the artificial tree at Christmas.  Starting out in my married life, I even used a tree or two that was 'recycled', ie. it had belonged to my grandparents or parents.  Talk about a tree that had seen a better day.  Those trees looked a bit like the old Charlie Brown tree by the time I was done with them.

Traditionally, we would put up our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving, though not necessarily right after the turkey was put away.  Mother's birthday was in early December, and as I recall, the times the tree went up seemed to be closely tied to her birthday.

My brother, sister and I would help mom and dad put up the tree and decorations, and that is a tradition that continues at our house today.  Somehow it seems better to make the tree decorating a family project.

Christmas Tree, 2003 model