Sunday 30 November 2008

To have a Tree, or not to have a Tree, that is the question

Well Most Excellent Blog Readers, the question has arisen in the Messy household: should we get a Christmas Tree this year. It is a question fraught with emotion (mostly mine) as in all our 8 years of marriage (eek!) we have never had a Christmas Tree of our very own. Tinsel, yes; Decorations, yes; Holly, yes but an actual tree (alive or dead).....um, NO.

Mostly we have never really had the space to store a tree and all the accompanying trimmings, so we have just made do with decorations strung festively about in an effort to create some Christmas spirit. I suspect we have a box of gaudy baubles (marked "Fragile: Christmas Decorations") in every State of Australia we have ever lived in: Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne.

However, given that we are in London, and fresh trees are readily available, I raised the issue with Mr Messy about whether we might have a tree this year. His answer? "If it costs less than £10 you can get one."

"£10!!!! ARE you SERIOUS???? You can't even buy a needle off a tree for that amount of money!" I mean, I don't want a Fraser Fir, or a Supreme Nordman Fir or even a Blue Spruce- a regular ole Scots pine will do. But they DO cost more than a tenner....ummm, considerably more :(

So, unfortunately dear blog readers, this year we will once again be Without Tree. Instead I will be forced to frequent the shops of Marylebone, Pimlico and Columbia Road to breathe in the scent of pine and citrus, touch the spindly needles and delight in the twinkly lights and lavish decorations. Oh, and I can be smug in the knowledge that once New Years Day rolls around, I, for one, won't be dragging a half dead tree through the flat, down the stairs and out the front door leaving a pine forest of razor sharp needles in my wake...or trying to find a hiding space for the box marked "Fragile: Christmas Decorations"!

Store window on Pimlico Road (above)


Is this a dog or a bear??? or half and half?


Does this cat look suspiciously real to you??? I dearly hope that someone has not stuffed their beloved meow and stuck her in the window!

3 comments:

  1. oh deary me I sympathise- from someone who inherited an old flatmate's ratty old mini sized tree with the decorations glued to the end of the fake pine needles!! but still, it was nice to have a tree of one's own. I have since cut them off and tarted up the aforementioned tree with tinsel. which reminds me, 1 december, I must get it out....

    AND as for the ten pounds for a tree, well, did I mention the bargain tree i bought at the k-mart sales for $10 one year?? Tell mr messy you can possibly get one that cheap- but not until AFTER christmas......

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  2. Ms C, is this you??? I can only think of one person (i.e.you!) who would gratefully receive and cherish a mini sized Christmas tree with glued on decorations!!!!Whereupon most of us, on being questioned by the gifter of said tree about its whereabouts, would state that the tree had met with a most unfortunate (and premature) end after coming into contact with some particularly explosive Christmas sparklers, you would be able to happily produce the little blighter. God love you, Ms C!

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  3. hmmmm well lets just say i must have been watching Better Homes and gardens or some such and gifted tree was a makeover opportunity. think mini tinsel and decorations, arising from little basketty thing, cute! however I do have said $10 full sized 1.6m high tree in large box and currently wondering where the divil that has got to????
    speaking of trees, am attending an a lister function on the coming weekend and have heard a rumour Ms H is getting a fair dinkum, true blue, pine needles 'n' all REAL tree to mark the occasion. x

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