No Mail-Order Christmas Tree for Me, Thank You!

I haven't had a real Christmas tree in my house for years. With two giant German Shepherds, a piano and drum kit all in one tiny living room with my other sparse furniture it just hasn't made much sense to get one. Besides, I have been going to my sister's homes in Colorado and Montana to spend Christmas forever, so I stopped caring that I didn't have one. Until this year.

This will be the first time I have spent Christmas in Sioux Falls since the early 2000's when my Mom was still living. She and my younger sister spent the holidays with me that year and although our time together was fraught with drama, (my car broke down, we had no way to get around for days and there was a major snowstorm) we had a wonderful time. I had a big tree that was decorated to the max, (as is tradition in our family) but of course I didn't have the previously mentioned major space-takers back then.

This year I am excited to be in my own little home, (okay the landlord's own little rundown house) my sister from Montana is coming out and I'm planning on picking out one of my favorite Fraser firs from Baumgartner's.

• A Giant Dose of Black & White & Adorable!

When I moved to Sioux Falls in 1981, my mom and dad came for a visit in December and wanted to buy me a tree for my apartment. I told them about a family that was selling Christmas trees out of their backyard and everyone loved the place. That was Baumgartner's. Today they've grown and changed and are located over by the "Denny", but it is still a great place to buy a Christmas tree.

When my parents lived here in Sioux Falls, my dad loved Landscape Garden Center, which back then was still called "Landscape in the Country", because it was- - out in the country. That is how much Sioux Falls has grown over the last three decades! Daddy loved that you could check out trees inside the greenhouse, get it flocked and have it delivered right to your house! Landscape has often been my go-to place for the small touches of Christmas pine I've allowed myself for the last several years, just to have a bit of olfactory ambiance in my house.

The reason I bring all this up is that several times in the last couple of weeks my eye has been caught by a number of companies marketing Christmas trees online. The prices aren't bad, they do deliver them to your door and I'm sure plenty of people will be using their services, but not me.

I'll be making the trek out in the cool weather, perusing the trees, having the dead needles shaken out of it and having it loaded into the back of the RAV. I'll struggle with getting it out of the vehicle, into the house and into the tree stand. I'll decorate it with way too many lights and ornaments and most probably, I will crab about it the whole time! It will likely still be standing in the living room long after Christmas is over, and I will love it!

So at this point in my life, it is still, no mail-order tree for me!