Out of the forests, tree farms, home improvement stores or closets and into your house.  We have an evergreen conifer to decorate.

Or do you?  If not, you will soon.  And if you’re not the kind that keeps a Christmas tree in your house, chances are you know someone who does.  Or they know someone.

With just 23 days left until Christmas, the race has begun.  Deck those halls.  Deck the outside of your house.  Deck the lawn.  Deck the kitchen.  And whatever you do, don’t forget to deck the tree.

And while there’s plenty of shopping to do (we’ll get to that another day), we’ll focus on the tree for today.  For me, getting the tree has been a tradition that goes all the way back to my childhood.  And even before that, the tradition of decorating trees has been around for hundreds of years.  Ever since the pagan Europeans practiced tree worship long ago.  But having survived the conversion to Christianity, the trees were then used to scare away the devil.

Getting back to my tradition, I have always enjoyed getting a tree as a kid.  For a number of years, I can remember going to Beards Lakeview Farm with my brother, younger sister and parents.  We would get out and begin searching for the perfect tree.

The search would pretty much go like this.  One of us would find what we think to be the perfect tree, until a flaw is pointed out in it.  A spot may be bare, or it might be too small or too tall.  This would continue on and on for several trees.

And finally, by some miraculous event, we come across the perfect tree. At that point, the tree is ready to be cut down, right?  Wrong.  It’s picture time.  Stand in front of the tree in the freezing cold and get your picture taken, so that grandma and grandpa could see the tree that you got this year.  At the age that I was at back then, it didn’t matter.  There was snow everywhere and I was standing in front of the tree that would go in our living room.  I loved it.

For the first few years, mom and dad dragged the tree to the needle shaker and wrapper.  But when me and my brother were old enough, dad made us drag the tree all the way back to get de-needled and wrapped up in twine ropes for the truck.  As the years went by, it got easier and easier to do.

Looking at this year, I have yet to get a tree.  In fact, we’re getting one today.  But due to Beards Lakeview Farms ending their Christmas Tree business four years ago, we have decided to go to the same Christmas Tree farm as last year.  Kluck Nursery.  It’s little bit of a drive but it will definitely be worth it. It should be great, as I was very satisfied from last year.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.

And if you’ve been following the 12 Pains of Christmas, I’ll be getting the first thing done today.

As for the other eleven, they will all come in due time.  Well actually nine, since I don’t drink or have any children to worry about.

Muse:  Got your tree?

Not yet.  I will be today.  And I actually want to end this…

Muse:  Well, before you do, I have some good news.  I found the perfect Christmas tree!  Tee hee!

Nice.  Your tree looks just like ours do in the real world.

Muse:  Tee hee!  I know.  Christmas has gotten really popular among me and the Intangibles.

So did you cut it down?

Muse:  Of course I did!  And it’s all decorated too.

Well, that was fast!  I still need to get a tree and decorate it!

Muse:  Well, being Intangible does have its advantages.  Plus, I want to get some reading done.  Now you can end it.  Farewell!  Tee hee…

*sigh*  Intangibles always get the best trees.  Well, I guess that makes sense since they’re all imaginary.

The high today is going to be 43 degrees and the silver lining is getting a Christmas tree.

To all of you who love the tradition of keeping a Christmas tree in your house,  I hope that you all have a fantastic day.

Muse:  The star on this tree is so beautiful.  Tee hee!  To be perfectly honest, I could stare at this for hours…