O Christmas Tree

For the past two years, we only display a half-meter christmas tree on top of our sideboard. Boring it was but it was to prevent Ning to "destroy" the tree since she's too young to understand what can or cannot be touched.

This year, WF decided we should get a big christmas tree for the kids to admire since Ning should be able to understand the tree is not a toy. And we thought why don't we get a REAL one. It makes perfect sense for us because I don't have to pack it away after Christmas when we're tight on storage rooms at home and it'll be nice to have a real one as our first Christmas tree.

Choosing and having a real tree needs experience. Here's what I had concluded:

1. Go to the florist end Novermber, not too early and not too late. Not too late, so you can have more choices in terms of height and bushiness. Not too early, see point 2.

2. Don't have it at home too early, unless you're going to switch on the air con 24/7. Best is to get it delivered in Dec. The tree SHEDS! And if you have it too early at home, by 25 December, your tree might be 'botak'. For some of the florists, they keep the trees in cold storages before they're sold, so it does prolong the life of the tree.

3. Get a really bushy one. They will shed their firs everyday by the loadfuls. So if you get a bushy one, it'll not look bare on Christmas day.

4. Measure the space allocated for the tree at home first. The trees comes in all kind of base sizes though the height is quite standard, depending on the growth. Remember these are real trees, some are in shapes of fat triangles, some in slender triangles. We chose one that is slender at the base because we have limited space in the living room.

5. Get one that does not have any holes or "lobang", especially on the tip of the tree. You can't expect these real trees to have firs all over like those fake one. For us, it was the first time, we got one whose base fits our allocated space but its got a hole or empty growth on the tip! Eventually, I had to get two snowmen to cover this gaping hole.

6. Get one with a sturdy trunk and twigs. You're adding weight on the tree by coiling the lights and hanging the decorations. So getting a strong and sturdy one will prevent the tree and twigs from breaking easily.

7. Feed the tree with ice. Throw the ice into the stand and let it melt. These trees are accustomed to cold weather, so watering them with ice helps prolong their life.

8. Check the stand and see if it leaks before the delivery man leaves. For the inexperienced us, we didn't check. Until I started to water the tree then I realised it leaks. We got a new stand that same day, but three men to change it and put it upright again.

So much for tips. I was so excited about it that before the tree arrives, I had done all the wrappings and tyings of ribbons the night before.

Here's some of the pictures I took. Because the tree sheds its firs everyday, I can't place the presents below. Eventually we got a gold organza to cover the stand instead.