O, Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!
My very first entry for the holiday month. And I give you our former Christmas Tree. Hehe. What I mean is, this here tree was our last year’s Christmas Tree. Ain’t she a beaut? (hmm…I sound suspiciously familiar…hmm…like that Australian crocodile guy!) Sadly, we had to bring her down after the festivities were over.
Yes, folks. It was a real, “live” pine tree. The first one I’ve decorated after years of plastic imitation pine trees back in the homeland. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the plastic ones, too, when I was a kid. We even had a white version of it one time and it was really cool. It looked as if we had snow inside the house eventhough we lived in a very tropical country. Now, how’s that for imitation ambience eh?
Anyway, this tree holds a special place in my heart (that’s why it got so many shots from both our digital camera and the point-and-shoot one) because it was the first tree hubby and I had during our first Christmas together here in the US. He had been spending Christmas back in the Philippines with me for a couple of years, but it was nice spending it together with a delightfully decorated Christmas tree in our own humble abode.
Another reason is that I have a fond but funny memory about this tree. You see, we bought the tree only a week after I arrived from the homeland. And I was still getting used to the chilly winter weather. It was so damn cold, I tell you.
Well, it was too cold for me, who grew up in humid weather that makes you really sweat like a pig during summer and mildly refreshed when it’s the rainy season. The only winter-cold imitation I had a chance to experience back home was an air-conditioned office, air-conditioned malls and hotels, oh yeah, and the artificial ice-skating rink down at the basement of SM Megamall.
But I had felt real cold weather (one that will give you hyphothermia!) outdoors when I go mountain-climbing. Of course, the higher one goes up the mountain, the thinner and colder the air gets. And I tried it during rainy seasons as well. You start off in the jump-off point with the sun beating like a hot rod on you, then when you are in the middle of the climb, rain pours down on you like cold, runny soup, and then when you near the summit, the weather drastically changes from cold soup to dry-ice wind, biting at your face. It’s amazing how my fellow climbers and I didn’t get sick everytime we did that kind of trip.
So I knew what damn cold feels like. But that’s up in the mountains. And not down in the city! When I got into the SF airport, I thought the A/C was turned full blast. ‘Geez, don’t these people feel the cold. It’s even raining outside,’ I naively thought. Alas, when I stepped out of the door, the “real winter-weather” greeted me like a sudden slap in the face. The cold seeped through my thick jacket, passed my clothes and skin, and into my bones. Brrrr!
We bought our would-be Christmas tree in the same “slapping” cold and wet weather. I remember it was the morning of December 22. We got the heater on in the house and I was feeling comfortably warm and toasty. You know, the kind when you don’t want to get up, but just sit there (maybe have a mug of hot chocolate in your hands) and do nothing all day.
And hubby said, rather excitedly: “C’mon let’s get our Christmas tree.” I replied back with a groan: “Right now? I thought we’re not going to have a tree since Christmas is just three days away.”
“Naw, it would be cool to have a tree. And by this time, the store would be selling them trees at cheaper prices,” he said, still excited.
I looked out the window and saw only blurring rain on a dreary morning and said: “But it’s cold out there!” I bristled while retreating to the comfort of my warm blanket by the sofa. No way I was going to go out there. Na-ah. I haven’t acclimatized yet. Bah, humbug!
“But it would be nice to have a Christmas tree this year. It’s our first Christmas here in the States together,” the hubby said, looking crest-fallen. We’ve been talking about getting a tree that year. Plus, he even got mum-in-law to bring Christmas ornaments and decorations from LA just for the tree we would get.
Argh! You guessed it right, I did get out of my comfy and warm cocoon and out into the harsh cold of the outdoors that day. I couldn’t bear hubby’s sad look, you see. And I’m just as sentimental as he is about the whole thing. Yeah, yeah, we’re a bunch of sentimental schmucks, alright. Deal with it! Hehe.
So we drove off to a big car lot where there was still a lot of pine trees of different sizes on sale. They were lined up in the open lot (which, by the way, had no roof…it’s just the cashier section that has a tarp roof for cover against the wind and the rain), where people could look them over and pick the best one they want.
We were the only tree-buyers there since most likely the other people (these would be the early birds who bought trees as early as November) were already enjoying their trees, sitting nice and warm in their house and admiring it by their lighted fireplace. *Sigh*
While I would have loved to just sit in the car with the heater on, I felt enormously guilty not being out there helping the hubby pick a tree. So I did my wifely duty of accompanying him in the open lot to help choose our tree. In the cold, friggin’ rain, mind you! And to think, we went without an umbrella! So there I was with only a pillbox hat and a leather jacket for warmth and rain protection, trying not to shiver so much, while hubby was having a grand time going from tree to tree, inspecting each one carefully.
When he finally pointed to a really tall one, I quickly nodded in approval and called the attendant. At that point, I would have agreed to any blasted tree or bush, I just wanted to get out of the rain and the damn cold! We paid for the tree and the store owner gave us a free door wreath with a mistletoe on it. The attendant strapped the tree on top of our car and we drove home.
Now getting the 6 feet tall pine tree in the house was tricky. But we’ve managed to get it in our low-ceilinged abode quite alright. Thanks to a little bit of shoving and pushing. We parked it right by the window and began decorating the tree to our heart’s content until the wee hours of the morning the next day. We were trying to hurry decorating so we can make it in time for Christmas eve. Hehe. No sense having a Christmas tree by not having it ready by Christmas, right?
And the end result of all that hard work is what you see now. The memory of Christmas Tree, the First. Wait ’til we have Christmas Tree, the Second. I’ll post its picture here in my bloggy. Hopefully this time, we’ll buy that one before December 22. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed.