Our stick

I'm not the most traditional kind of woman. In fact, I welcome the chance to do things a little differently. I blame my father. He was and is the same way. He never has tried to keep up with the neighbors. Actually, he likes to shock the neighbors by his unique way of doing things. So, I am my father's daughter and I too try to do things a bit differently. It's not that I am against tradition. I think traditions are extremely important and valuable. I just welcome the chance to do something in a way that is not the standard way. So instead of an evergreen, we have a stick.

When I asked Samuel what we should do about a Christmas tree, he immediately wanted to find one in the backyard. We basically have a few big trees and a few sticks. That's it. So, this morning he yelled for me, "Mom, get the saw. I found the perfect one." Well, I didn't need the saw. It was a stick. No leaves were left.
"Mom, we can make this tree happy. Let's take it in and decorate it." How can I deny my son the pleasure of making this stick happy? So we brought in the stick.

I still have not found our ornaments. We do have lights and two of Samuel's ornaments. He also found two gold balls to put on it. The tree skirt swallows it up. But the kids had a blast decorating it. When we were done, Samuel looked up and said, "Beautiful!"

So here's my top ten reasons why a stick is better than an evergreen.
10) No need for a tree stand. It just leans nicely against the wall.

9) No need to keep it watered and no messy needles.

8) A heck of a lot cheaper.

7) No need for a lot of decorations. Great for this very forgetful mom.

6)If it falls over, no problem. Very easy to pick up.

5) Our presents will overwhelm the stick so it will look like we have a whole lot more than we do.

4) Very easy to take down after Christmas. Three minutes max.

3) No need to take the stick to Home Depot to recycle after Christmas.

2) To give the stick a warm and happy place to live out his last few weeks.

1)To make a memory. Do you think years from now Samuel would remember a "normal" Christmas tree?

Here is our stick. Remember, every one's definition of beautiful varies.