The Christmas Tree that almost wasn't.

We set out to get our Christmas tree today. This was the first (and last) weekend we could get it since Thanksgiving. We have been out of town or Pete has been out of town every weekend, so this was it. We left after lunch and drove to the village of Julian to Pearson's Tree Farm. Pete grabbed a saw and we headed up the hill a bit to scout out our tree.
The ever-prepared-husband is measuring the tree to see if it will fit.

Here is Clayton enjoying some ice. I hope it's not yellow.
And here is the tree. Pete cut it down with ease.
My mom still puts ornaments on her tree that were on there when I was a kid. There's the homemade ornament from my kindergarten or the Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer from my mom's childhood. I have some special ornaments that will be up every year. Here is "I Dream of Jeannie" with her magic bottle. My sister gave this to me because as a kid, I loved "I Dream of Jeannie". I only saw it in reruns, but would run around the house pretending to be her. I even had an old perfume bottle that looked like her magic bottle. It's still at my parents' house. (Do you see the bottle by Jeannie?)
This ornament was made by a friend of mine years ago. She had visited a mutual friend in Prague and liked the egg ornaments so much she made some. It's amazing that this egg has lasted.


Here's the tree. I took the picture without a flash. It looks like it's glowing here.


But, here's the real story. After we came home with the tree, Pete decided we needed a new tree stand. The old tree stand I had was metal, and the trunk was too small so that it wouldn't stand upright. We went back to the shops after dinner. (had a great meal at Cozy Thai Bistro). Anyway, we checked Lowe's, no stands. We checked Target, again, no stand. The lady there suggested Home Depot and, of all places, CVS Pharmacy. We checked Michael's since we were close by, nothing. We knew Wal-mart was sold out, too. We went to Home Depot, nothing. So, off we went to CVS. While Pete was in the pharmacy, I called a friend to see if they had an extra stand. They didn't.

Meanwhile, Pete is looking around CVS and doesn't see a tree stand (he's a man and didn't ask for help). On his way out, the employee asked if he needed any help. "I was looking for a tree stand, but didn't see any," he replied. The clerk asked if it was for a real tree. Pete said yes. She then pointed to a display and said, "There's one over there--it's our last one!" Hooray! We got the sturdy new tree stand. We could put up our tree and decorate it!

After we had our tree all decorated, Clayton said, "It feels like Christmas." Yes, Clayton, it finally does!