Oh Christmas Tree...

I miss having a fresh Christmas tree.  But I am past the point in my life when I can deal with putting up and taking down (let alone purchasing and bringing home) one of the fresh cut Christmas trees that gave me so many years of pleasure.  So for several years I've had a "fake tree."  For so many years, that my tree was one that needed every branch painstakingly inserted in the center pole, at great cost to scratched skin and pinched fingers.

This year I decided to splurge on a NEW tree.  And it is a beauty.  a 7 1/2 foot Virgin Pine. (What on EARTH is a Virgin Pine?  I don't know either. But it's lovely. And has its own lights. Even nicer. LESS work for me.)

It's been a joy decorating it, with carols playing in the background, deciding which ornaments go where, remembering the sources of so many of the ornaments, or the story behind them. This is the wee gingham-covered cotton ball wreath that Jezebel would NOT leave on the tree. She spent the whole week before Christmas tugging until she removed it, and then hiding it from me.

Some of those ornaments are over 40 years old, and I treasure them.   But something is missing. No matter how lovely, *no* artificial tree is going to fill my home with the aroma of a fresh cut Fir, or Pine, or Spruce!

Thank heavens for the essential oils  - especially the conifer (needle) oils.  I've always filled my house with them at this time of year.  But this year I found an even simpler way to make the tree smell "right."   If you will look very closely near the white ball with the green bow painted on it.. slightly to the right and below it....picture 5 o'clock... you'll see one of our wee clay pot diffusers. Normally I keep one in my car, with Fresh Aire in it.  This one has Balsam Fir.  I used one with the glazed bottom in case it might drip on the "foliage"...and removed the cork so that the oils could fill the room.   It's hidden deep in the branches, near the trunk, and not far from a light, which warms and diffuses the oil.

*THE* answer to an artificial tree.  At least, for me it is.