With Thanksgiving being so late in the month this year it only seemed fitting to follow the general American tradition of putting up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. The problem here is that we don't have a car. In addition to the fact that a lot of Germans don't put their tree up until much closer to Christmas. Marty's family put it up on Christmas Eve! A lot of Germans here still do that. We didn't want to borrow a car but thought if any of our friends were getting trees they could just throw ours on top too. But no one was getting their trees any time soon. Marty and I went on a long chilly walk. We saw a few Christmas tree lots and looked around. They all offer delivery but at a premium. There were some online places as well that delivered. And there was some that you could buy, living in a pot and then replant once the holiday is over but they all come with the disclaimer that there was no guarantee that the tree would live once planted outdoors... so what was the point.
We found a place - about a 15-20 minute bike ride away that had online sales and free delivery but how would we know what we were getting unless we went to the place to check it out first. We were heading to the place and had only rode a few blocks from our house when we noticed a little, corner flower shop was selling trees. We stopped, got off our bikes and walked in to check them out. They had just been delivered from the farm the day before. None of them were unwrapped so it was hard to tell what they looked like but since it was so close to home we knew we could get it home on our bikes. Their trees were far cheaper than the lots specifically set up for the season and at 35 Euro for a 2 meter (6 foot 5) it seemed a great deal. They were so nice they even gave us 5 Euro off for being their first Christmas tree purchase of the season.
Marty and I walked back with the tree resting lengthwise on his bike. And BOOM! Christmas tree is already up. I'm definitely missing all of our special ornaments that we have collected over the years and all of the other holiday decorations but it isn't so bad for just a box of lights and a bucket of red decorative balls.
Mogli cannot quite figure out why in the world we have set up a live tree in our living room. He drinks the water from the tree stand now more than his own. I'm just hoping he doesn't decide to pee on it!!
And I started my new book from my friend, Kelli, over the holiday weekend. What a TREAT to have a brand new book that is actually mine.
Our friend, Juli, sent me this picture when I told her we wanted to get a Christmas tree. She said, "do NOT show this to Marty or this will be you this afternoon" She was nearly right! 😆😄
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