True Story Tuesday and the fake Christmas tree

You've probably noticed that we have a fake tree. Unless of course, you're used to seeing live trees perfectly triangularly shaped.

We haven't always had a fake tree. Up until Christmas 2006 we had always had a real, live tree.

Christmas 2006 was our first Christmas we stayed at home. Jack was 2 and I was almost 9 months pregnant with Melody.

A few weeks before Christmas we went over to Webb and Lindsey's house for a little Christmas cheer. When we arrived, Lindsey was frantically sweeping the floor. She insisted that she had swept several times that day but that she kept seeing stuff all over the floor. Webb and Alex go in for a closer look and discover (be prepared to be freaked out!) bugs crawling all. over. the. tree.

After completely freaking out (ok, only Lindsey and I freaked out) we quickly un-decorated the tree and disposed of it outside.

When Alex and I got home, we immediately inspected our tree (since we got it at the same place as they did). Fortunately, we were bug free. However, I just couldn't let it go and continually checked it over the next few days. And lo and behold, a few days later (be prepared to freak out again) bugs on my tree!

We un-decorated our tree and took it outside. We went back to the place where we bought it and they let us pick out another tree. After all we had to have a tree on Christmas! After careful inspection, we deemed it bug free and brought it home.

A few days later, on December 23, Jack and I were wrapping a few more gifts and placing them under the tree when I noticed some tiny specks on the floor. Yep, bugs again. (Cue more freaking out.)

I began un-decorating the tree and called one of Alex's buddies to help me drag it outside.

Remember at the beginning of this story when I mentioned that I was almost 9 months pregnant with Melody? Well, I tend to be a little on the dramatic hormonal side all the time when I'm pregnant. So, pregnancy hormones plus having two bug infested trees really pushed me over the edge.

By the time Marc got over here, I had already managed to drag the buggy tree outside. I then lopped off the top, (which was crawling, crawling with bugs by the way) and put it in a garbage bag and headed over to the place we got the tree. When I arrived I asked to see the manager. Looking back, I kind of feel bad for the poor guy. He was this nice guy and I don't think he knew what hit him when my hormones attacked him. I gave him the garbage bag and told every. single. detail. of the two bug infested trees. Including freaking out about how bugs were currently crawling over my very favorite angel tree topper (which was in the bag).

After I was finished he looked at me and asked me what I wanted him to do. My answer was simple and straight forward, "Get all the bugs off my tree topper and let me pick out an artificial tree and give it to me for free."

He didn't hesitate even a second before saying, "Deal." I think he was worried I might go into labor if I got any more worked up!

He took the bag from me and went to work on the tree topper while I walked back to where their artificial trees were. There were slim pickings since it was practically Christmas, however there was one relatively decent, pre-lit tree that I snagged. They loaded it into my car and off we went. My hormones were still raging and I some how managed to get this extremely heavy tree out of the car and up into the house and then I practically had the whole thing up and decorated by the time Alex got home from work.

Here we are in front of our fake, but more importantly, bug-free tree!

We have used the artificial tree for a number of reasons every year since. Convenience is certainly one of those reasons and I'm also a little nervous about having another bug infested tree. However, I think that next year we'll give the real thing another try. After all, finding the perfect tree is all part of the Christmas experience!

Don't forget to head on over to Once Upon a Miracle for some more True Story Tuesdays!