O Christmas Tree!

Our artificial Christmas tree was 27 years old when we finally sent it to the dump. It had been falling apart for years, and we'd hung onto it for sentimental reasons, and because of the environmental impact of buying a new one. I really wanted a tree from Banff's Spirit of Christmas store, but couldn't seem to get there. So I found one online at Lowe's. I would have bought it locally from Canadian Tire, but they didn't have the one I wanted. My tree came within a week, and I set it up immediately. It is truly the most beautiful fake tree I've ever seen.

It's got 600 lights, over 2000 branch tips, and is heavily covered in artificial snow. I can't keep my eyes off it. It looks like the kind of tree you'd see if you were walking through the woods and little enchanted forest creatures started to sing and scamper about. And then you spotted it, shining like an angel in the clearing, and you just knew it was the one, the same way you recognized true love when it came along.

There are only a few problems with my new tree. When I took the pieces out of the box, I was so busy exclaiming over its beauty that it took me some time to realize I was getting a headache from the smell. Things that come from offshore are often sprayed with chemicals, perhaps to keep them free of pests during their long voyage. Even as I was separating the branches and plugging in the lights, I found myself feeling kind of sick and lightheaded. I also felt stupid, like I'd lost about ten IQ points. I'm calling this feeling 'offshore shipping syndrome.'

Fortunately, I had to leave the house for choir practice. By the time I got back, the smell had abated slightly, though I could still taste chemicals in the back of my throat. My eldest daughter was probably right. I should just have gotten a real tree this year. But I find as I get older that I like to start celebrating earlier. And I like the perfection this tree offers. It helps me imagine Christmas as being stress free and happy, like in all the commercials. But really, there's no more truth in that than there is in all the cheesy, made for TV, Christmas movies. (Sorry, friends who are hooked on them.) For me, real happiness at Christmas comes from remembering my parents, and all those years attending midnight Mass, and always having a stocking hung on the curtains with care. (We didn't have a fireplace.) And the Christmas story, too, of course.The one about Jesus, and not about the boy who wanted a BB gun. Although I like that one a lot, too.

Another problem? My new tree makes the room look shabby by comparison. It's too grand, like Queen Victoria, whereas I'm more like Fagan from Oliver Twist. Every morning, I walk into my living room and we have a small quarrel, the tree and I. 'Stop being so damned majestic,' I say. She doesn't answer. She's kind of stuck up, and her ego is growing by the day. But oh, she's beautiful. Now, here is a photo of her royal fakeness as taken from the website. (Which does not compare to her sheer physical presence in my living room.)