[ The Coming of a Dead Christmas Tree ]

After watching all the Hallmark Movies, and Balsam Hill commercials, who doesn't want to create the perfect Christmas? Years ago, I did, and still try to although it's paired down. I would make my activities list:

Make 25 different kinds of cookies,
Send Christmas letters,
Buy the gifts that were perfect and special,
Prepare the homemade goodies from my kitchen,
Create my own labels, tags and wrapping paper,
Decorate every room in the house,
Set kitchen and dining room tables,
Prepare the 7 fishes Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas brunch, dinner and cookies and cheer.
Decorate 2 Christmas trees, a colorful artificial children's tree and my real adult tree.
Maintain a full-time job.

I’m not complaining, I loved it!

So, how did the Dead Christmas Tree arrive? It arrived Alive the first year. We went out and cut a big tree, drag it about a mile and toss it on the car. Oops, too big, can't see out the front window. That's okay, we were a short distance from home, so I drove with my head out the window. Of course, at home, we had to cut about 5 feet off the tree. I guess when you look up at the perfect tree, it's too high in the sky to realize the actual size!

Fast forward to the following year......"We are not going out and cutting the tree!" No helpers, what am I to do. EASY - I went out to the woods and grabbed last year's tree. Sprayed it gold and brought it in the house. Set it up. After all it was DEAD, yes, dead, no needles, just twigs and light weight. I added lights, all my silver bells, glass ornaments and yes, tinsel! I wish I had a photo of that tree.

In the daylight it looked awful! But at night it was ethereal, and magical. All the kid’s friends came to see the DEAD TREE!

This was many, many years ago. This summer I was reminded of that dead tree when my son's friend introduced me to his wife. "This is the woman who had a Dead Christmas tree!"

I was inspired to recreate that moment in time, Although, it's tough to find dead tree, at Christmas. I found one discarded in the woods. It may not be 22 feet, but it has that magic.

So, here is my 2019 dead little Christmas Tree!