Before we get into Part III of Tips from a Professional Tree Decorator, take a look at Part II. Now I can tell you my big news. The other night, after a fifteen-year search, I managed to get my dirty little hands on a 1991 Hallmark Star Trek USS Enterprise NCC1701 ornament! But it gets even better. I was able to get it at a very good price. I can’t wait for it to get here and be hung in a place of honor on my completely decorated tree. Yep, I finally finished it, two nights ago. It was a dirty job, but..yadayadayada.
It dawned on me I’ve not mentioned the burning question: Real or Fake
Both trees have their limitations and good points. There is nothing more wonderful than a real Christmas tree, especially if it came freshly cut from the tree plantation on your grandparent’s land. Those days are gone forever, and along with them the really good price – free! The last real tree I bought here in New Mexico was $79. I put it up the first of December and took it down New Years Eve 1999. I think I hauled the last of it out of the condo just as a new century was being ushered in, thus telling you I have no social life.
In my defense I was in a snit: Who knows what kind of relationship I thought I was getting into with that dude. He had the audacity to assume I would show up at a party where he was, then complained when I did not. Okay, it took me another month to get wise and realize I was better off without his stellar presence.
Getting back to the tree, by the middle of December it started looking dry and a little dangerous to light. I would limit my use of tree lights to just an hour or so, which was no fun. By Christmas Day it was so dry, with needles falling everywhere, I realized I could no longer use the lights. I was accustomed to fresh cut trees, not wood chip rejects. I realized fresh trees were not the easiest things to get around here, so I went to the fake.
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