16 years.  The tree lasted for 16 years.

And then, without any warning whatsoever, the base busted and the tree fell over with a smack, spreading it’s hundreds of fake pine needles all over the living room.

Don’t worry, no one was hurt…and in fact some were even excited enough about the Christmas tree floor smacking drama to take a moment to pose behind the busted tree.

I had bought that tree the day after our first Christmas together as a married couple 16 years ago. I was so proud of that purchase…our first Christmas tree. For half price.   So as silly as it is, I was a little bit sad and sentimental about throwing the tree away and thought instead of trying to rig the base up with some duct tape. You give a mama some duct tape and she can fix anything right? I figured though that it would only hold up for a few hours, or until a nerf soccer ball went sailing through the room…whichever came first. (Yeah, it would be the soccer ball.) 

We made do with a smaller fake tree this year and will see what we find for half price after Christmas this year.

But that leads me to the question of the day. Are you a fake tree family…or a real tree family?

We’ve always done fake. It seems easier to me. But it doesn’t smell  nearly as good.

They should start making scented fake trees.