Our First REAL Christmas Tree

My memories as a child of real Christmas trees was mostly of one thing: That I didn’t like the smell.  I’m not sure why, I’m not sure if it was even ‘real’ Christmas tree pine smell that I wasn’t liking, but that’s what I always thought.

We had our share of real trees growing up, usually they served as ‘tree number 2’ because in our house, having at least 2 trees was a necessity.

But when I moved out, I switched to artificial only and that was that.  From my first apartment in my first year of university I always put up a Christmas tree.  Andy and I decorated a small one together when it was just the two of us in our cramped apartment.  When we built our house 9 years ago, we bought a new, huge Costco tree and have had that ever since.

This year, after some thought and research, we decided it was time to try a real tree.  At first, my son hesitated. He assumed a real tree meant a small tree like one you’d see in a garden.  I assured him that the tree would indeed be taller than him.

On a rainy day this past weekend, we went to our local tree lot and selected our first real Christmas tree.  Andy and I got all sappy (and not in the romantic way) while putting it up.  I had already gone to Canadian Tire to get a sturdy tree holder.  We trimmed it a little and instantly fell in love.

Now, as I work on the computer, I stare at our first real tree and know there’s no going back. It feels perfect in our home and after decorating it, we couldn’t be happier.

And you know what? I love the smell.