So no offense to Christmas Tree 2007, but this tree isn't the overwhelming success of last year's tree.

We purchased the tree on December 9th - it is a nice Douglas Fir that has pretty full, even coverage, and a good shape for a Christmas Tree.



You'll notice though it's a little sparse on ornaments. And that the bottom half of the tree is even more sparse than the rest. First, this year we have a mobile and curious Declan to test the ornaments within his reach. This has relegated anything breakable to branches above his reach. And most of our ornaments are of the breakable variety...

Second, most likely because of the drought in our region this year, the branches on this tree aren't quite as stiff as the branches were on last year's tree. Our ornaments also tend to be heavier (though not heavy). This has required some creative placement and use of Christmas tree lights to support branches to support the ornaments.

The additional side effect of the drought is that this tree is shedding needles at a far faster rate than last year's tree. Last year's tree dropped needles sparingly. This one is dropping it by the handful (even though it's still drinking a good amount of water) daily.

But it's still a nice tree. And it's real and not fake. As much as I dislike vacuuming up needles daily, I dislike fake trees more (childhood trauma of memories of an overused artificial tree....)

Merry Christmas!

(If you're offended by the Christmas greeting, then Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or as one friend says, "Kwanukkahmas". Or can we just agree on Happy New Year then?)