A Christmas Tree Story...

Day 1: Unlike other years, we took the plunge and bought our first Christmas tree. But before you get too impressed, read on. We didn't buy in a mall parking lot, nor did we pick it out of a forest and strap it on to little red and drive home. The tree we bought was actually a potted Alberta Spruce which stands about 24 inches high! Being out of the tree care routine for a number of years, I was really sure hope to keep our 'fir-y' friend happy.

Days 1-10: I do the cup-a-day of water method only to see an alarming number of needles falling to the carpet. I'm not quite sure what I 'm doing wrong. Too much water? Not enough? I pick up the tree and it seems a little on the heavy side, so I'm quite sure it is not lacking water.

Days 11-14: I tried the liberal gushing method of placing the tree in a sink full of water overnight, but this too did little to combat the work of gravity on those poor browning needles. I blame the store and the greenhouse company who likely transplanted the tree into its present pot only to look pleasant long enough for a customer looking for a novel way of being festive.

Days 15-16: Marty, a friend of ours suggested the misting method. For the 2 days that remain before our 2 week holiday, we mist our little tree.

Day 32: We return to the condo late on January 1st only to quickly fall asleep. We don't really have the heart to look closely at the tree as it has gone without water in any form for almost 2 weeks.

Day 33: Julia notices something peculiar about the tree and takes a closer inspection. She sees it first and then calls me over--our little tree has changed. Sure, there are the hundreds of brown needles laying around the base, but there are also more than a dozen shoots of new growth! What we experienced there can only be described in one way: Re-Leaf!