Our Christmas Tree

Here is our Christmas tree from last year:

Although it was fake and the middle strand of lights was a little dim, we loved our tree. We got it when we returned to China after getting married. As you know, Kathi Huffman is quite particular about her Christmas decor. Andy follows in her footsteps. Although we like real trees, he and I prefer traditional Christmas tree look over the tree being real. And since we couldn't find any trees that looked remotely like the perfectly shaped Frazier Firs that we grew up with, we decided to stick with fake. But fake in China can be tricky too. Most fake China trees are pretty sparse. So after looking high and low, we found the perfect tree. The only problem with it was that it was COVERED in fake pine cones and fake snow. So my dear husband spent several hours clipping each and every last pine cone off the tree. Then he beat each branch and got as much snow off it as he could. We were left with a great looking tree, lightly dusted with snow. Andy was left with a pounding headache from all the fake snow he inhaled. I'm not sure why I am telling this. I guess all this to say, that tree was meaningful to us because it was with us all of our married years in China and we loved the way it looked, despite the fact that it used all the power in our apartment to run the lights. HEHE. So even though it was fake, it was hard to say goodbye to this dear tree. But leaving it was made easier by the thought of getting a REAL tree this year. And here it is, in all its glory....drum roll please.....

I know I know. It's ugly. And not real. And 4 feet tall. What in the world happened? I'm not sure exactly but I'll just say once we got it up, I cried. Actually, we are going to be out of town for two weeks at Christmas so that was the first strike against getting a real tree. And the second was just how busy and overwhelmed with life we have felt since making this transition back to the US. Andy first mentioned that he thought we should "go simple" this year and surprisingly, against my nature, I readily agreed! That's so not like me. I like big and bold and fun and complicated. Not simple! But this year I just went along with it. Even though I was sad not to have a real tree, it was nice to just decorate simply this year. We only used ornaments that have special meaning to us so it's a fun tree to enjoy! I was kind of sad about how little it looked so I put it up on stand to make it look a little bigger. HEHE. Maybe next year will be the year when we get that perfectly shaped real tree. My favorite part of the Christmas season so far has been reading Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, an Advent devotional book. It has really helped me to understand more of the goodness of Jesus as I reflect on different aspects of his coming to earth. Andy just plugged in our pre-lit tree and said, "It doesn't look that bad." Oh, Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree! How ugly are your branches!!!!!!