Sometimes it can be a little stressful to buy a Christmas tree.

They keep getting more and more expensive…what’s the selection like…if we do get one, will they tie it to the roof of the car securely enough?

There’s a lot to worry about if you look hard enough.

But this year, boy, it couldn’t have gone any smoother.

Look at that beauty there on the left.

I’m really proud of that tree.

And I’m pleased at how easy it was to procure.

Kathy and I were unsure when we were going to go get the tree and towards the end of the 1pm football games on Sunday I had a bright idea - I said, “Kathy, we should get to the trees before the Patriots game ends. Everyone’s going to be watching this and no one’s going to be shopping for a tree rihgt now.”

By the time we left the game was just about over…but the tree lot was still empty.

We walked in, and I walked straight to the first tree I saw - it was perfect.

Perfect height, pretty full, and the kids working the lot sawed the bottom and then attached it to my roof rack in record time. (It occurred to me as they were doing it that next year I should bring a tarp and just throw it in the back of the car to make it easier. Last year’s roof tying was less efficient - it doesn’t always go as well as it did on Sunday.)

And as we were leaving, the lot started to fill up with cars.

So maybe my strategy worked. (The Jets game ended a little after the Patriots game so maybe everyone was just watching the Jets?)

It had snowed Sunday and it was cold, so the tree was a little bit on the colder side.

I remembered after I put it in the tree stand that last year I think we decorated it a little too quickly - it was also cold when we got it and it looked very different after few days and the branches kind of fell out as they warmed up.

So I left it alone for a day, and then on Monday I put the lights on because I didn’t want to wait too long to take care of all of that wiring.

And after a couple of more days we’ll put the ornaments on - hopefully we’ll get all that done by Friday.

This is the first time in a while we haven’t gotten our tree in early December - usually I like to do that because at least it doesn’t feel like the tree is going up and then immediately coming down.

I guess we’ll have a solid three weeks of this tree before I have to bring it out to the curb.

That’s not too bad.

And, best of all, it really is a nice-looking tree that will help make things pretty joyful around here for those three weeks.