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December 1, 2015

Michelle Miles: Christmas Traditions

Every year, the day after Thanksgiving we head out to find our perfect Christmas tree. This year, we debated on whether or not to get a fake one. I was sort of leaning toward fake and flocked (because I love alliteration) but neither my husband nor I could bring ourselves to spend upwards of $300 on a fake tree.

I know, I know. We could save it for future years. But the biggest problem with that is we have storage issues and I don't think we really want to rearrange the entire garage to store a fake tree. Or even put it up in the attic storage space.

This year, Friday was rainy and cold and windy. It wasn’t exactly the best weather to get out and look for a tree. We decided to hit Lowe’s first and see what we could find. All the trees were wet because it had been raining for the last twelve hours or something crazy like that. We wandered around in the garden section looking at trees and freezing our bums off. We stopped to chat with one of the workers there who had been loading trees most of the morning. Granted, it was midday and there weren’t many people out there but there were a few here and there looking for trees. We knew we only had about an hour before it started raining again to get the tree home.

Not finding anything we couldn’t live without, we headed back inside and looked at the fake trees again. But again… we just couldn’t pull the trigger on that. Back outside, and shivering we were heading out when suddenly…there it was. The perfect tree. We snapped it up and got it home before another downpour.

Isn’t it pretty?





Afterward, we went for coffee and then we got really crazy and headed to the mall. Lordy, that was an experience. Side note: It amazes me how many rude people there are in the world. Made even ruder when it comes to walking through the mall or standing in line.

Our other tradition is we decorate for at least a week. We put out our holiday Carole Town. I bake about 20 dozen cookies. And then it will be Christmas and everything will wind down for the year and it will be January again.

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

Michelle Miles writes contemporary and fantasy romance. Find out more about her books at her website.

4 comments:

Phyllis said...

Beautiful tree, Michelle. We are usually on the road during Christmas so much that we've not put up a tree in 13 years. Perhaps it is time, I still have my beautiful full fake tree and I just may pull that out after we get back from yet another family trip this weekend.

Cathy McElhaney said...

I had always said I would never have a fake tree in my house...until I got an inside cat...now we do fake trees! We just bought a smaller 6.5 foot one this year and we only paid $79 for it. It's not bad at all, but I am giving the new kitten time to adjust to this before we decorate it! I have put a few shatter proof decorations on it and she has batted them off a few times, but it seems the spray bottle is working a bit and she is ignoring the tree a little more often. Her and the dog were working in tandem...he would knock the balls off the tree with his tail, so she could chase them around the living room! They are truly my 'bad kids'! She will get in the cupboard where I keep his treats and knock over the box of Milkbones for him! It would be comical if it happened to someone else, LOL!
As for traditions...we really don't have any now. When my kids were little, Santa put up the tree (Not MY idea! Santa had enough to do without adding that to it!). My husband grew up that way...they never even saw the tree before Christmas morning! I guess my tradition that I have kept is that the kids get 3 gifts...after all that is what baby Jesus got, so why should mine get more? They get enough from family anyway.
Your tree is beautiful! I do miss the smell of a fresh tree, but my husband is allergic so we have to keep it to a minimum!

Sylvia said...

Well Blogger is hiccupping today. Second attempt. Your tree is beautiful and we were going to go out and purchase a tree on Sunday, but it was pouring down rain and decided to stay instead to go to the grocery store. This will be the first tree we've put up in years because like Phyllis we're always on the road at Christmas. Frankly, I'm tired of it and want to stay home, but we go see family. Next year we're staying home. Our traditions are, we watch Die Hard and It's a Wonderful Life. We also give each other personal Christmas cards with special messages in them. Usually my husband makes me cry because his are so sweet and loving. This Sunday we are purchasing a tree and we'll be pulling out all the decorations and putting up the tree while we watch the Cowboys lose.

Vicki Batman, sassy writer said...

Hi, Michelle: We go for real trees. Beginning in my single years, I went to a tree farm for one and it stuck. I married and took my family until they revolted. After that, some of the tree farms were closing anyway; so we went back to the lots. I do miss cooking hotdogs over the fire and roasting marshmallows. And yes, even the arguing. This year's selection took...3 min, mostly because I was waiting for the family next to us to not take the one they were staring at. LOL. But they did. We went with the one next to that. It is so fragrant. I asked Handsome to rub some sap on himself because it smelled so good. LOL