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Saturday, December 12, 2009

Christmas Tree

Last year husband insisted on a plastic tree for multiple reasons:
* the previous year he swears we got fleas from the tree, they are a nightmare to get rid of in a warm climate.
* our youngest cat eats the pine needles every year and gets sick
* the oldest cat makes a nest under the tree and get's pine needles everywhere
* as the tree get's closer to Christmas it dries out and the pine needles really rain down
* we have to pay $65 every year for a regular 6' pine, I suppose living in Florida means higher prices for trees because they have to be trucked down from the great northern states

I have to admit it was rather nice to set up the fake tree for FREE this year! I'd like to get a real wreath so we can have the pine smell, maybe later today.

My biggest concern was that our walking, climbing 17 month old toddler might pull the tree over; plastic trees are really light and don't have much support on the bottom. So after much thought and consideration, husband pulled a long Velcro strap from the garage wrapped around the center of the tree and nailed the ends to the wall. It's invisible from the front. He's such a handy guy.

The next concern was to put decorations high enough so that baby can't pull them down and/or put up non-breakable decorations. To be honest, we got the tree up 2 weeks ago and the decorations are still pending. I keep thinking I'll do it after work but then I'm too tired. So our tree has an angel on top and lights. Maybe I'll finish it tonight, or maybe like Halloween, we will wait to Christmas Eve to finish the tree.

By the way, we found the cat has eaten the plastic pine needles by way of throw up residue that had been mostly cleaned up by the dog. If they both die, we will bury them in the flower bed with a sign that reads "Stupid and Stupider died by way of plastic Christmas Tree consumption".

I think next year I'm decorating a potted plant on the porch. Go on, tell me to suck it up and get into the Christmas spirit.

ps. I'm delighted to report that I just found the Christmas Tree pulled to a strange angle and it was the Velcro that kept it standing! Go husband!!!

PPS. And if I had any further doubts about getting a fake tree, here is a link from Neatorama showing a dry Christmas Tree burning in 5 seconds and burning everything in the room in 45 seconds!!!

3 comments:

Grit said...

i knew nails would be part of the answer. but in this case i'm glad they worked!

R. Molder said...

Yep the nailed velcro worked even after she shook it rather vigorously in an attempt to shake the babbles from the tree.

crazywildberry said...

Yeah, Mike! Pic please!