Faux "Fir"

A decision of huge importance was made at the home of The Mole Hole this past weekend. After 27 years in existence, this household has gone “artificial” for Christmas! Yes, the delicate scent of pine resin does not waft through the house this evening although it is completely decorated for the Holidays.

How did a decision of this magnitude come about? Well, it was a combination of a few things. An alignment of Yule-time planets as it were:
· The lack of convenient access to “tree farms” which was our traditional method of obtaining a real tree. Here at our new home in Chicagoland, we faced quite a drive once we even identified a couple of them out there. Returning home on the Interstate with one tied to the roof of the car would probably result in most of the needles ending up in the Grilles of the cars behind us!
· Our desire to put the tree up earlier, and probably leave it up longer, because we’ll have less time to enjoy it while we return “home” to Michigan for Christmas week. Much too long to have a real tree standing in the house. I can picture a spontaneous combustion event occurring around January 7th or so!
· A young cat in the house, who is way too energetic, and he’s seeing a Christmas tree for the first time. It has been our experience that real trees are never quite stand straight enough to balance well in the stand. There have been years when we literally tied them to the walls! So should this frisky feline decide to have fun with the tree, a stable and balanced fake Fir is much more likely to withstand a full scale attack.

So it was with this decision process that we now have a gorgeous facsimile of a seven and a half foot Douglas Fir standing proudly in the living room. I have to say, that these man-made jobs have come a long way, even to the point of actually designing in some inconsistencies in the branching and coloration just like nature would have it. And maybe the most amazing thing of all, the thing is manufactured right here in the U.S.A.! Who would’ve thought that in this day and age! Nice to see.

So many other things have changed for us since the Big Move, we really felt it important to stick to tradition as much as possible for the Holiday, but upon further consideration of the items listed above, it was probably a good move. Now I need to pick up some spruce-scented candles and then learn to live with the convenience!