Tree Trimming

Meet Carissa and Stefan! They're trimming their tree in style, as sketched by moi for their Christmas card design. Stefan planned the whole thing out and surprised Carissa with this illustration and their holiday cards. He thought of everything - right down to the little details in their outfit. How thoughtful is that? Seriously good husband move.

Speaking of tree trimming - last night I got our Christmas tree. Getting a tree in NYC is as easy and unromantic as getting a bagel at the bodega. It was a far cry from the idillic family outing of my childhood with my parents and the dachshunds and me all piled into the car to go to the local landscaping company to visit the tall, majestic pines standing tall on a giant lot, each a few feet a part like a real forrest, their dense dark magic punctuated by market lights strung above. I would walk through and among them until I found one that I would project all of my love of christmas onto until I had decided that this tree had spoken to me from the great beyond of the spirit of Christmas and that this was THE one.

We'd take it home and string it with thousands of soft white lights, nestled artfully within the bountiful branches, all the while marveling at how "this was the best tree we've ever gotten"

Well... My tree shopping last night could not have been more different. I ran down to Rite Aid on the corner to where about 100 trees are leaned against the wall, tightly bound by netting, looking like prisoners of war and gave the tree guy $40 and asked him to give me one "that would not be too heavy to carry up 4 flights of stairs by myself"

Seven minutes later I was home with my slightly traumatized little city tree, freeing it from its plastic netting to discover all the places where branches were missing. Sure it was scraggly and a little lopsided and you could see straight through to the other side through its branches, but it made me almost as happy as those elegant giants on the tree lot in my memory. I guess in the end, the act of getting the tree, any tree, is still a powerful tradition.