My Tree and Me

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree...

I have had my Christmas tree sitting in my driveway since December 31st. It is now very dead and prickly AND covered in snow, but I have held onto it so i can take it back to the store to get my 150 kroner back ($30). ...or so I thought!

When I bought the tree at Bauhaus they gave me a coupon and said if I bring the tree back they will give me my 150 kroner back. "Great Deal" said I, and I tucked my coupon away in a special place.

Today... feeling very proud that I had not lost the coupon (although I nearly washed it yesterday), I attached the prickly, dead tree to my volvo roof with some bungee cords. *Note: Do not use bungee cords to attach large, dead, heavy, prickly things to your rooftop. Once I was bleeding and could no longer feel my fingers I was satisfied it was attached securely. ...actually I knew it was pretty sketchy but I figured I'd drive slow.

So off I go,
in the snow,
driving slow,
but the wind did blow,
and I said, "Oh No". :) hee hee

Yep, tree was now dragging behind the car attached only by a bungee cord hooked to a branch. I contemplated continuing like that. ...maybe just pretend I didn't see it hanging by a bungee cord off the back. ...maybe it would fall off and I'd just keep driving.... BUT, NO. I was taking it back to the store to get my $30!

I stopped and reattached it. ...now I am covered in dirty car dirt because I had to crawl up on top of the silly car and the special bonus was that for a while I had my cold finger stuck in between the tightly pulled bungee cord and the pokey tree branch. ow.

Off I go again and I finally arrived at the store with a new hatred for this tree that I once decorated so lovingly.

I took my receipt inside and gave it to the guy I told him I had my Christmas Tree with me. He just looked at me and I thought he didn't speak English. So I repeated, "I have tree" and pointed at mt reciept. He looked at me for a while more... I now noticed I was covered in pine needles. He then said, "Why?"

Turns out you don't need to take the tree to the store. He didn't want my tree. The receipt was really a gift card that I could use to buy 150 kroner worth of things in the store. O. K. At least I got to wander through the homedepot-like store and spend $30. Problem was that I didn't want any tools. I thought maybe a flashlight would be handy but it was 700 kroner for a good one!

I ended up getting a Harry Potter poster for Michaela, a snow shovel for Sierra, a ruler for Scotty and some pink square pots that were on sale. :) Pretty good trade for a dead tree... problem was I didn't trade. I still had the tree.

I took it to the dump and saw the place where Christmas trees go do die. It was almost sad to see a huge pile of dead prickly trees that people once danced around singing. :) I was more than happy to unstrap my tree and toss it in the pile though. :)

I'm buying a smaller tree next year.