Oh Christmas Tree

It's Saturday morning and I'm awake early.

I love this time of day.

Everything in the house is quiet. Warm coffee in hand. My world is blanketed with a covering of snow. My Christmas tree lights are on and the white lights on my garland on my mantle are twinkling.

Everything around me is so peaceful.

With so much beauty around me ... I feel so blessed.

This morning, my mind takes me back to a time when I was extremely broke ... and ridiculously happy.

I had just graduated from college and moved back to the Seattle area. My friend MaryBeth and I moved into an adorable apartment together in Kirkland. It was our first home, as graduated adults .... and it was the time of our lives.

We were broke, young and giddy with life & independence.

MB was in her first year of working at Microsoft. I was waiting tables and subbing in the Northshore School District.

MB and I prided ourselves on not spending very much money (much like the thrill I still get when I find a great bargain on anything) but still having a blast at everything we did.

We set out one chilly night in December to find the perfect Christmas tree for our cute apartment. We pulled up to a tree lot and started looking at their selection.

We nearly died of a heart attack when we saw the prices. Why so much for a tree that will die in a few weeks?

We couldn't believe it!

We went up to the guy running the lot and asked him for his least expensive tree. He led us to the very back of the lot ... to the very far corner.

There was a lone tree laying against the back fence ... all by itself.

And it was beautiful!

Why was this tree so cheap? We couldn't believe our luck! Perhaps he felt sorry for us and was going to give us a deal!

And then he lifted the tree off the fence.

The tree was totally bare on one side.

Totally bare.

No branches or needles or anything.

Bare.

SOLD!

We took one look at each other and said, "We'll take it!"

We drove home with excitement ... discussing how much we loved our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. The tree no one wanted.

But we did!

And we loved it!

Once we got home, we brought the tree into our apartment and set it in the tree stand ... and it fell right over.

Hmmm ... we hadn't thought of the difficulty of putting a lop-sided tree into a tree stand.

With all it's weight on one side, there was NO WAY this tree would stand on its own.

But never fear ... because MB and I had freshly graduated from college and we had all kinds of tricks up our thrifty sleeves.

Ready for this?

I remembered an extra phone cord I had.

We wrapped the phone cord around the tree ... and NAILED both ends of the phone cord to the wall (much like the tree in this picture I unbelievably found on the internet).

Isn't that genius?

Never underestimate the resourcefulness of two newly graduated young ladies!

I'll never forget that tree or the fun times we had that Christmas.

I DO have pictures of that tree somewhere. If I can find them I'll post them.

Merry Christmas everyone!

May you have as much fun as putting up a lop-sided, totally-got-a-great-deal-on-it Christmas tree!