Arbor Day

It's officially December and today we got our Christmas tree.

Some words to describe our tree this year: quaint, rustic, simple, shabby-chic, primitive, brown, spiky, whimsical, and economical.

For the second year in a row, we have a red cedar tree in our living room. Here's how it works. We all load up in the van. We drive around on various gravel roads, looking in the ditches for something fabulous. We find one, Nate runs out with the saw, chops it down as quickly as possible, and stuffs it in the back of the van. We drive back home ever so nonchalantly. Nevermind the branches hanging out the back door.

Now last year, we had some "aroma issues". Everything smelled great at first, a wonderful evergreen fragrance filled the house. After a few days, we started sniffing and searching, trying to figure out where the urine smell was coming from. We wondered, "did a deer pee on our tree?" Sometimes the smell was overpowering, sometimes it was faint. I called my mom who has the nose of a bloodhound and asked her if she could come over and "smell the pee-ness?". Now say that last sentence out loud to yourself a few times and you will see why my question was answered with roars of laughter. Once I clarified, she came over and we decided that yes, it was the tree. My solution? Air freshener. Air freshener and lots of candles. Eventually, the smell faded, and we enjoyed a lovely Christmas tree. Obviously it wasn't bad enough to prevent us from getting a red cedar this year.

Pray for us. Pray that this will be a "pee-free Christmas tree".