i have an obsession when it comes to christmas trees. i am a bit of a perfectionist. i like things to be a certain way and i honestly cannot stop thinking about something until it is the way that i think it should be. yes, i fully understand that this trait borders on OCD or perhaps it is full blown OCD, but that isn't the point. i have certain criteria for picking out my christmas tree. i am 5'2. i should not be able to hang decorations on the top of my tree without having to stand on a chair. my second nonnegotiable characteristic of a tree is the bottom. i should not be able to see under my tree and should have to scoot on my belly under the tree to water it. also i prefer frasers to douglas fir. i think they are prettier and hold ornaments better.

in years past i have spent ridiculous amounts of money on trees and i hear about all year long from my husband. he loves to tell people how much i spent on our tree. and i always say, "it was a beautiful tree, wasn't?" and he agrees, but then says something like, "of course it was a beautiful tree, you paid $90 for it!" and then i feel foolish. foolish because it is silly to spend that much money on something that will die in a few weeks. i try to justify the price for the ambiance and joy it will provide for that amount of time and usually i can persuade myself. but this year we are calling it "our recession christmas." so i kept quietly reminding myself as i traveled from tree lot to tree farm to tree lot, that this year we must be conservative. in my head i kept repeating "recession christmas. this will be the year that you remember the recession christmas so it won't matter what the tree looks like." even with my mantra in mind i couldn't help but reject every tree the men at the lots held up for me. i would say, "no, its not big enough" or "no, its too fat" or simply, "uh, no." by the time we got to the third place my husband was over getting a christmas tree and i was feeling the pressure to choose one before he nixed the whole trip. and lets be honest, i need him to strap that puppy to the roof and cart it inside. i am an independent woman, but i already told you i like BIG trees.

under pressure, back to the first lot we go; the lot where the boy scouts were selling fraser trees for $40. i ran to the back of the lot where i had previously seen a tree that i "could" like and started yanking it out of the corner. my husband hurried over and told me to stop yanking it, i was going to rip branches off. he held it up and asked me, "is this the one?" i quickly responded yes and went to get the man to wrap it. when we got back in the truck with the tree strapped on top, i couldn't help but feel a sense of victory. i got my fraser tree that met my criteria for only $40. it was more expensive than what my husband had wanted to spend but after hearing the prices at the other lots he was satisfied with my choice.

there is one last step of the tree saga that i must endure every year- getting it into the stand. it will always go in the stand, that is not the issue. my yearly concern is how many branches will my husband butcher off the bottom. this year he really did her in. my once glorious, criteria-meeting tree is now, in my opinion, more of a potted plant than a christmas tree. mind you, no one else would think this but then again i am a christmas tree snob.