Day 3 - First Work Day of the Decade & The Christmas Tree Debate

No pressure to do something great, or anything. :)

No, really, today is going to be a great day.  The kids are going back to school, Rich is going back to work, and I'm rolling up my sleeves and tackling the growing list of to-dos that have accumulated over winter break. This includes writing checks, returning emails, wrapping up the 2009 Sassy books, and finally finishing the links on the new promo web page for our new Sassy Club social media service.  Better start with that last one. Its long overdue.

Progress
I also have a meeting this afternoon that is part of my research for the new business. I'm dying to share the details, but I'm not quite ready.  But I'm happy to be moving forward on this part of the planning.  I decided to take one of my Sassy Ladies books, and actually use it to write the business plan for this idea!  We always wanted it to be a good workbook for that exercise - I'll put it to the test.


Wanted Dead Or Alive

On another note, I made another big decision yesterday, as Rich took the Christmas tree out of the house.  That would be our last dead Christmas tree.

For years, I've battled him on the "live versus fake tree" debate. To me, it's just not the same unless you have that "pine tree smell".  I've always loved the tradition of going out to buy the tree, braving the cold, finding just the right one, and bringing a little bit of the outdoors inside in the cold month of December.  In recent years, I've also loved supporting the local farms, refusing to get a weeks-old tree from Home Depot, where Rich threatens to do every year. A fake one was just out of the question.

This year, after Rich refused to spend $60 to cut a fresh one like last year (which I agree was crazy), we went to my favorite roadside flower and garden shop, The Rose Shack, and got a perfectly nice cut tree.  I didn't ask if it was shipped from Canada or cut recently from a local farm, mainly because it was pouring rain at the time, but also because I didn't want to know  I have loved the Rose Shack since college days when it was literally a shack that sold roses, not the big garden center it has grown into, and so that was supporting local business enough for me.

But, yesterday, as Jessie waved goodbye to our pretty tree, I felt a wave of sadness.  That the life of this little tree had come to an end.  That its purpose in its 15-20 year old life was to decorate our house for a month. Well, today, it will join all the other dead pine trees at the transfer station, getting turned into mulch, so it's not quite finished yet, but all the same, it felt wasteful. Jessie's comment snapped my thoughts back to the present moment, "Oh, Mom, look at all the pine needles!"

As we swept up the mess, we discussed possible alternatives:

We could buy a live tree and plant it in the backyard in the spring.  But I don't have the best track record with keeping plants alive in the house.

We could just decorate one of the plastic fica trees with lights.  Really? No.

We could just decorate an outdoor tree with food for the birds. But then we couldn't put on all the sentimental ornaments I got at my bridal shower, or the ones that the kids have gotten or made each year. No, it has to be an inside tree.

As he pulled out the vaccuum cleaner, Rich made a final pitch for the fake tree, "They make realistic looking ones now, that even come with your pine tree smell."  If we went now, we could probably save some money on leftover inventory, one with built-in lights.  Maybe we will do that.  I mean, we can always get "that smell" from a wreath or centerpiece.  The Rose Shack makes beautiful ones. And, this minimizes the fire hazard, and takes one more holiday daily chore of my list - watering.

And today, looking out at the poor little, empty, dead Christmas tree in the bed of Rich's truck, I think my decision is made.  I'm going to miss that little tree. I wish I could just pack it in a box and use it again next year.