Real Vs. Fake?

What do you think I'm going to talk about in todays Mr. Rodgers discussion? Boobs? Whole schools of thought on that. Me? I don't really care. Real, fake, whatever.

What I'm talking about is..........Christmas trees.

Many might shudder at the thought of a fake one. I know many years ago I did too. At the mention of a "Fake" tree visions of white trees with mauve and colonial blue balls might come to mind.

This is probably because as a child I was never subjected to a fake tree. It was unheard of. I remember going to look for Christmas trees with my Dad. It was a huge deal. Which tree? Did the branches fall right? Did it have any open spaces that would be distracting? How tall was it? Did it smell good? All those things were considerations. Then we would pick one out and strap it on the top of our station wagon and bring it home to decorate it. I remember my Mom measuring out water with sugar in it and pouring it into the tree stand with a measuring cup. I was delighted by every decoration that came out of the box that they had carefully been placed back in the year before. Every gingerbread house and gingerbread man and the pretty balls and the balls with birds and the birds that sat on the branches. Each one was ingrained in my memory, year after year.

So it's probably odd that I have a fake one. I tried a real one, a couple times. I'm going to tell you, to me, it was a big huge pain. The needles falling off, it inevitably tipped quite a few times and the water spilled out and stained the rug. I never seemed to get it out of the house at the right time. All the neighbors trees would be picked up on "tree taking day." Ours sat there for weeks. Until, finally at some point someone would drag it from the curb and throw it in the woods behind our house. Dead trees. Makes me cringe.

Here enters my Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I love this tree. I bought it like 7 years ago. It lives in my basement. Every Black Friday I drag it in three separate pieces up the stairs. I put it together like a puzzle. I string the lights. It never tips over. I only let ornaments that are Santa Claus go on it. I love it. This year the kids wanted to decorate it. They loved the ornaments. They talked about ones they remembered. Chase broke a ball while having a catch with it. They had fun. They did say, after the last candy cane had been put on, "Mom, some year can we get a real tree?" Insert me smiling and nodding while thinking, "No."

I'm pretty sure when they are adults they will have the biggest real Christmas trees they can buy. Someone will mention fake trees and THEY will roll there eyes and say, "No way!"

Maybe a little real one, we'll see......