Every December, early in the month, my husband, three teenage children and myself travel fifteen miles into town to purchase a real evergreen for Christmas. For the past 10 years we have visited the same man at his home where he sells trees for $3.00 per foot.

After all of us agree on just the right tree that’s about 6 feet tall, we buy it for $18.00. We feel it is worth the money because we enjoy having a real tree. I have a tree stand that’s about 15 years old along with a tree skirt my sister sewed, so we’re all set to put the tree in the corner of our living room on top of a square of plastic covered by a small rug to protect the living room carpet.

While we’re in town, we also purchase potato chips, sour cream, Hershey kisses and Reeses Peanut Butter cups. We sing some Christmas carols on the way home. After arriving my husband takes the tree out of the trunk, puts gloves on, and bounces it up and down in the yard to shake out all the loose needles.

He then saws off the bottom of the trunk. This helps the tree absorb water. After he sets it up in the stand, we enjoy our snacks while we decorate the tree and listen to our favorite Christmas music on tape or cd.

We normally do this on a weekend, and we all help unpack the Christmas ornaments and decorations and make the house ready for the holiday season. As the kids got older, I didn’t need to be in charge anymore.

They wanted to keep the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree as I described it above. I have spent very little money on Christmas decorations for the last 10 years because I actually have all I need.

We have a lot of ornaments for the tree and decorations for the interior of our house. (We don’t decorate the exterior with lights.) Most were gifts from family members, friends, the kids’ teachers, or my piano students. Many are handmade by the kids in school.

We’ve only bought colorful Christmas tree lights maybe twice over the past 18 years, and several years ago we purchased a very nice Nativity set on sale in January for $10.00. We also use another Nativity set that I received as a child from church.

Most all of my Christmas candle holders, decorative tins, and knick knacks that we put in the dining room and living room were gifts. Even the lighted yellow star for the top of the tree was given to us by an elderly woman who moved into a nursing home.

As a result, I don’t buy any decorations at Christmas time other than the Christmas tree itself. I’m meticulous about packing them all when the holiday is over. I wrap each in bubble wrap or tissue paper and put them in special containers.