2nd Annual Mystery Tree!

Last year was our first Christmas in this apartment, and we unwittingly started a new tradition -- at least, for the time being. We call it The Mystery Tree -- the acquisition of a pre-wrapped Christmas tree rather than spending hours in the numbing cold searching for just the right one. Last year, this came about in an unintended way -- Don was on his way home from work, it was terribly cold, it was a late hour, dinner still needed to be eaten, he was in a sour mood from the lateness and the cold and the hunger. He swung by Home Depot, only to be faced by a long, snaking line of tree shoppers holding their trees this way and that, is it tall enough, fat enough, straight enough, tilt it to the left, no no no, to the right a bit ... The hunger and the cold and the late hour pushed his buttons as he pushed by the picky shoppers, grabbed a wrapped tree, paid the $20, and rushed home.

And as it turned out, it was gorgeous.

So ... let's continue the tradition, we said! Let's just forgo the agonies of finding the perfect tree amidst hundreds of other conifer hunters, keep our fingers and toes intact, and just have fun with it. If it's a beautiful tree, then we scored. If it's not, well ... it's all part of the fun, right?

Well, that's just what we did yesterday. After spending the weekend in PA visiting friends and family, we stopped by Home Depot on the way home. The wind was relentless, piercing through our thick coats with icy daggers. The kids stayed warm in the car, watching a DVD of The Magic School Bus, oblivious to our activity and state of freezing shock. Don said he had a bit of a problem -- there were only about 5 trees left, 4 of which were only 4 feet tall. The last one -- a six-footer -- looked a little ... well, thin ... but he grabbed it. What choice did he have? It's all part of the fun ... right?

So tonight's the night -- the big unveiling of The Mystery Tree. Here is it, photo above, all mummified on the front porch, looking a bit emaciated in its wrappings. Place your bets here, festive readers -- another winner this year, or a clone of Charlie Brown's sad little tree?