oh christmas tree. no christmas tree. aka the christmas tree saga of 2010

I am obsessed with the holidays. I love Christmas decorations, Christmas cookies, Christmas carols, Christmas trees, peppermint mochas from Starbucks, and the list.goes.on. Last year, it was our first Christmas with Little Miss J and our first Christmas as owners of the home that will go down in history as one of the biggest wastes of money we have ever known (another story entirely).  Anyway, I wanted an upgrade from my $29.99 6-foot pre-lit Charlie Brown looking tree.

After an hour of pushing my newborn through Menard's, looking for the best tree for the best price - we Chunglunds are all about BEST VALUE, after all - I managed to convince Mr. Chunglund that we should have a 7-foot pre-lit tree. Not the skinny 7-footer either, I wanted a nice big fatty one. Oh and did I mention I hate multi-colored lights? Yes, my tall fatty Christmas tree must be pre-lit with only white lights. We got it home and Mr. Chunglund set it up. To my dismay, my new tree was so robust that even I had to admit it had a life of its own and was overtaking our living room. So back in the box it went.

Mr. Chunglund and his brother returned the tree and brought a new one home ... with multi-colored lights. Did I mention already that I hate multi-colored lights? Yes, yes, I think I did mention that. Mr. Chunglund convinced me that he got such a good deal on this tree and I being a sleep deprived nursing mother crazed about having the perfect Christmas tree agreed to give it a go, multi-colored lights and all. Well, this tree was no better. In fact I would venture to say it was worse because half of the tree lights didn't even work properly. Not going to lie, it was a bit manic - blinking like crazy on one half while the other half remained completely dark.

In the end Little Miss J's first Christmas was celebrated with the $29.99 sad looking Charlie Brown tree. Oh.the.horror. Much like the time I sold our couches on Craigslist so that Mr. Chunglund would get serious and buy a new one or face a fate of sitting on the floor in the living room, when we moved to Arizona I threw out the Charlie Brown tree with hopes of the perfect tree to be found in Phoenix. With Black Friday approaching, I have high hopes for finding a new tree!