Ms. Bear and the Great Christmas Tree Debate

For the last few days, my family has been knee-deep in a dilemma for the ages: To tree or not to tree. It’s a holiday battle we never expected to find ourselves in — one in which we’ve found ourselves going around and around on. What exactly are we wrestling with, you ask? Well, pour yourself a cup of cocoa, get all snuggly and read the tale of Ms. Bear and the Great Christmas Tree Debate — written by Ms. Bear herself! xoxo

Oh, the sights and sounds of Christmas! Going back (way back!) to when I was a kid, I am filled with warm, happy memories of the holidays. One of my really good memories is waking up the day or two after we would put our tree up, getting to the top of the stairs and being so happily surprised when I saw the tree; I don’t know if I had a bad memory or what, but that would happen a couple times every year! Our tree was always big and always fresh and my mother would meticulously decorate it, as only someone with artistic vision could. It would fill the house with the scent and spirit of Christmas.

Fast forward to the present day. Well, we seem to be at a crossroads this year with our tree. I have a big, tall artificial tree down in the basement — pretty organized too. Last week I bought a four-foot tree for the den, which is what we call my bedroom since we watch all our TV in there. It’s just beautiful and came pre-lit, so all we had to do was slap a few ornaments on it — I did not inherit my mother’s artistic vision, apparently. So, then we got to talking about whether we should just buy another four-foot tree for the living room (long story short, our two parties that we host aren’t happening before Christmas….too long of stories to get into here!), so we started thinking about just putting up a short tree on the mantel. I feel conflicted about this, because ever since Brian died, I have this idea that I should keep doing things the way I have been since I seem to be functioning at about 90% efficiency now, after 13 years, I might add! But then, there’s the part of me that thinks I am healed and strong enough to tolerate change, so why not simplify and change things up?

I’m sure Melissa will fill you in on our final decision, but if you’re a betting person, go with the smaller tree…that’s what I’m thinking, at least right now.

Happiest of holidays to all Melissa’s readers…you guys are just great!