My "1st Christmas tree in about 16 years" thread

[Perpetual_Christmas]

This spring I bought a new house - which was my first-ever house of my own - and so I've got my first chance in a while to get a tree to decorate. Prior to that I've lived in apartments, most of which were too small for a decent tree, and I usually didn't have enough money for a tree and decorations anyway, or I lived with roomates in a rented house. The last time I can recall having a tree was maybe around 1994 (or maybe 1993? Or 1992?)when I shared a rented house with roomates, and we got a tree. I've lived in rented houses with roomates since then, but I don't recall getting trees those other times.

Anyway I've decided to start this thread so show everyone the progress of my decorating adventure. I just bought the tree but it was wet from the rain and I'm going to leave it in the garage for a day or two to dry out.

Here is the spot it's going in. This is my kitchen, which faces out to the front street. I wanted to put it here so you could see the tree through my window from the street.

There was a kitchen table where the tree is going to be, but I've also got a dining room table I can use. Today I took the legs off the table and will store it in the garage until I get rid of the tree.

Click on the thumbnail. I'll take pics of the progress! :)
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7743/siteoftree.th.jpg (http://img155.imageshack.us/i/siteoftree.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[Sickie Ickie]

Nice cat. :)

[Perpetual_Christmas]

Nice cat. :)
Had to get her in there. ;)

BTW if you look closely above the electrical outlet on the right wall you can see the nail I put in to help tie the Christmas tree down in case of feline misadventures. :D

[putrid]

Totally cool Perpetual_Christmas. Nice stand! LOL With the cat are you going to go with plastic ornaments just in case?

[Craig]

Hey PC!:)

Love the tree location! (the cat is LOVELY!) Lots of cat lovers here, eh JW and Bethene?:):):):)

[Just Whisper]

Right-O Craig. LOVE cats. And yours looks very much like my babycat. She loves Halloween most but likes to sleep under the tree. I like your kitchen and it looks like you found a lovely spot for the tree. I am glad you are going to be able to have a real tree. I love them. Enjoy Christmas in your new home, I hope it's the best.

[Perpetual_Christmas]

Totally cool Perpetual_Christmas. Nice stand! LOL With the cat are you going to go with plastic ornaments just in case?
Most of the ornaments I got are non-breakable. I might get a few glass ones later but I'll put them near the top of the tree.

[cinders]

Congratulations on having your very own Christmas tree! Now you can really "Deck the Halls!"

[LaBruja]

I wish I could have a real tree too..this apartment is too small ..but I have a nice skinny one that tucks into the corner really nicely,,no kitty this year to worry about as i had to put my beloved Ruby to sleep at the end of august.She was 16.Found her as a kitten while feeding horses at an out farm July 4th, 1994. Miss her alot..So I have loved hearing about all the kitty adventures and mis-adventures here :-)
Have lots of fun with your first tree in so long, and with YOUR first house too.Hoping for that in a few years myself too!

[bethene]

very cool, I am glad you can have your own tree, I do so love real trees, I am lucky, my cats don't bother the tree too much, I do keep unbreakable ones along the bottom just in case!
LaBruja, I hope you can get a real tree some day, I am so sorry to hear of your Ruby, that is such a hard thing to do,

[Perpetual_Christmas]

Alright, here she is . . .

On Saturday, here's the tree in my garage, awaiting its new home . . .

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/2941/treeingarage.th.jpg (http://img813.imageshack.us/i/treeingarage.jpg/)

Gotta prepare the trunk, first . . .

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9599/preparetrunk.th.jpg (http://img707.imageshack.us/i/preparetrunk.jpg/)

Then try putting it up to see if it was straight and whatnot . . .

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/6796/firstlook.th.jpg (http://img151.imageshack.us/i/firstlook.jpg/)

Turns out it was quite crooked (can't tell in this pic). Spent about a half-hour with my neighbor cutting off a couple more slices off the bottom of the trunk, until finally we came up with a satisfactory solution.

Here it is, nice 'n straight (mostly) and with anti-kitty strings tied up.

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/5100/secondlook.th.jpg (http://img839.imageshack.us/i/secondlook.jpg/)

Next I put on a few lights and a few sample decorations just to check it out. I decided I needed more lights, but that would have to wait for tomorrow.

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/4743/firstlights.th.jpg (http://img825.imageshack.us/i/firstlights.jpg/)

Sunday was the big decorating day. Since I had just bought all the decorations about a month ago, one important thing I learned was that some manufacturers like to put their decorations in packages that are next-to-impossible to open. After about 3 hours of work, here's the final product!

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/1981/finaldecorations.th.jpg (http://img560.imageshack.us/i/finaldecorations.jpg/)

This next pic didn't turn out great (it was dark out by the time I took it), but here's what she looks like from my street:

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/4661/viewfromoutside.th.jpg (http://img804.imageshack.us/i/viewfromoutside.jpg/)
All uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

So, after ~16 years' wait, there she is! :)

[Just Whisper]

What a beauty, and you did a bang up job of decorating it. I am happy for you and I know you will enjoy it. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[Craig]

Hey PC!:)

Great job, and the pics really show that you worked your behind off! (you should be proud of your work!):):):)

[Sickie Ickie]

Very nice- and without oil all over!

[dormiles]

Thanks for sharing!
It's great! Simple but elegant!

[rupertoooo]

Very nice conservative decorating. Just a reminder to water that baby daily. I am sure it will drink water like a fish.

[Carol]

Beautiful tree.

[Giles]

You have done a great job and your tree is beautiful!

[Perpetual_Christmas]

Y'know, I think for now on I'll wait an extra week before putting up the tree. In spite of making absolutely sure this thing's water is full, the tree is already pretty dry. At the rate it's going it's gonna be brown by Christmas.

:(

[sassyxmas]

Hi PC,
Terrific job on the tree! Congratulations on your 1st home AND your very 1st tree :) As for your tree drying so fast, I had that problem for about 2 years then found a solution that worked for me. I asked the place where I bought the tree to put VERY DEEP CUTS into the bottom--AFTER they'd cut it to make it EVEN at the bottom. I explained that I was unable to do this myself & they were more than happy to do it for me. 2nd, I noticed that my dogs AND cats seemed to think the water at the bottom was an 'EXTRA' water dish they thought I'd put there just for them! I solved THAT problem really quickly by encasing the holder with aluminum foil, which neither the dogs nor cats liked the sound or touch of. Seems the extra cuts & the aluminum foil solved the problem of the tree drying out so quickly for us. Maybe this could help you even now? I hope so. Anyway, congratulations again & have a WONDERFUL Christmas!

[Perpetual_Christmas]

Thanks sassy, I think I'll try that next year.

The particular tree stand I have makes it difficult for my cat to drink out of, so I know that's not the problem. It just seems like the water isn't getting into the tree. The water itself has not been used up at the rate I first thought it would, so obviously there's a problem with bare wood exposure to the water. When I cut the bottom I thought I did a good job, but maybe not.

[Perpetual_Christmas]

Well, the tree is gone. It was getting so dry I didn't even turn the lights on since Christmas Eve, just in case. Plus all the branches were sagging. So it had to go. 'Twas a huge mess cleaning it up after I lugged it down my stairs to the garage, I bet a quarter of the needles fell off in transit. I spent about 2 hours cleaning up afterwards!

The cat was definitely disappointed after she saw her favorite new hiding spot gone. She was sitting in the spot where the tree used to be with this dejected look on her face. :)

Now I gotta find a place to dispose of the thing.

BTW, after I took it down I noticed the bottom of the trunk was *definitely* well-immersed in the water. It just wasn't taking it up. I'll definitely have to try sassy's suggestion next year.

[Sickie Ickie]

Mythbusters found that by cutting down the tree, and then when arriving "at home", cutting off another 2 inches from the bottom just before immersing in water, it worked much better at helping the tree drink wa-wa.

[Nevergoback]

I love real trees, we once had a real tree in Tampa which went brown by Christmas Day! You never know how long these things have been cut, but we did enjoy it while it was still green. Ihope you will look back on this year with fond memories. And I wish you many more years of happy memories coming up in your new home.