Maddie Rae Gotcha Day

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Are they Real or Fake?

"Raise your hand for REAL. Now raise your hand for FAKE." We've had a lot of plastic surgery in our house, but that's not the subject of our votes this week. This week it's all about the Kelley Family Real or Fake Christmas Tree Debate.



I come from a long line of Christmas family traditions. One of my favorite Christmas memories (as evidenced here) was the annual cutting down of the Christmas tree. It was an ushering in of the season, a family togetherness bonding moment, and a true warm fuzzy feeling. Plus, my dad has been known to say that if he ever catches wind of one of us having a fake Christmas tree, he won't even grace the front door. We took the tree seriously in our house.



On the other side of the ring, you have Jon. His memories of Christmas trees involve assembling the tree, dusting off the branches, and plugging 'er in.



Falling in the middle are our lovely offspring. They don't really care whether they get that fresh pine scent when they open the front door. They just want to put the tree UP. The quickest path to that end? The fake Christmas tree sitting in a box in the basement.



This isn't just any fake Christmas tree. This tree was purchased in Hong Kong during our first Christmas there. It was billed as a 6 foot tree, but it's really more like 4 feet. It has about 5 branches for every foot and resembles the Charlie Brown Christmas tree more than anything real. It's ugly. It's barren. And it's time to replace it with a nice real one. The problem? We haven't had time to go get the real tree and the fake one is RIGHT THERE tempting Jack at every turn. "MOM! WHY can't we just put up the FAKE one?"



Last night after the vote (in which I lost 4 to 1), Jack reasoned with me. "MOM. Who bought this house? Dad. Who works every day and makes all the money to pay for the house? Dad. Who wants a FAKE tree? Dad. He bought the house. He makes the money. He does all the work. He should win." And this is the part where my dear husband jumps to my defense and rattles off all of the ways in which I work and am indispensible to the family and reminds his son of who made the dinner sitting right in front of him. Right? Wrong. This is the part where he just smiles and shrugs as if to say, "You lose."



But I'm the boss of the house, and we're getting a real tree.

3 comments:

Eileen said...

Retta,

I wonder if we're related? Actually, if I'm related to your husband? I'm an "EY" Kelley also. I'm a friend of Lisa's. Loved your post yesterday.

My kids insist on the real tree. Last year we thought we'd be smart and buy a tree with a skinny little trunk. We cut that tree down in no time flat. Unfortunately our tree stand couldn't quite get a grip on the skinny trunk and our tree found its comfort spot was at about a 45 degree angle. So, my advice is to go with the real tree, but look for a substantial trunk.

Nancy said...

I never had a real tree until I married Nathan. I don't think I would get a fake tree now. They're great. And the greatest part: When Christmas season is over, no disassembling. Open the door and leave it on the curb for yard waste to pick up! Yay! Of course, there was the two different years Nathan fashioned the half real, half fake trees. Those were nice, too. I vote REAL.

Raegan said...

Way to hold your ground. Stay strong. The experience of the new Christmas Tree Farm is well worth the wait...I'm posting about it today!