The Tree Is Up!!!

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It's not decorated, mind you, but it is standing up much straighter than it has in the last 10 or 15 years.

Sam actually dug the tree out of its place behind the stairs. He dragged it up the stairs in the two pieces, and made the first attempt to stand it up.

It didn't look good.

"How old is that damn tree?" Jake asked.

"I bought it the first year we lived here," I said.

"So it should have been retired 12 years ago."

"Why? It looks good," I said. "We just have to put a Yankees ornament on it."

But there's more!

Kathy actually took about an hour to get the tree standing upright and she flushed it all out.

"How's that?" She asked.

"Lovely," I said.

And it actually does look good!

I thought about the years gone past when we would head off into the woods to grab a tree.

Well, I didn't actually go...

Dad would take either John or Jim...

...and they'd come back with one.

Every year the tree looked better than the last...

"You think we need a real one?" I asked.

"Don't care," Jake said. "Just put some presents under it."

It's not that I don't enjoy Christmas...I do...

...but I never once hung a light, or went all gaga over the tree.

Facebook is a treasure trove of all the trees.

Some folks really go all out.

We're good here!

Our tree has character!

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