December 02, 2006

Ah, Christmas in New York

So I'm trying to pick out the perfect Christmas tree for my New York apartment. At first I came across the upside-down Christmas tree, which really appealed to me as it is both floorspace-saving and quirky. And you all know how much I love to be quirky. So I really honed in on (alright, obsessed about) this idea for a few days. But these trees are really expensive! I found a few cheap ones on ebay, but I expect I will be about as impressed by them as the price suggests.

As I continued my search for the inexpensive yet totally amazing upside-down tree I ran across a type of tree I never knew existed; the Manhattan Flatback. Now THIS is a good idea. Why suffer with a small little piddly tree when you can have all the splendor of a seven-footer in half the space. I love it. Hey, you live in New York. You don't have a bay window in the front. You probably don't have a fireplace, or at least a working one for Santa to squeeze his butt down. Your kids aren't waking up on Christmas morning and excitedly running down the staircase to see what Santa left under the tree which is situated in front of your large windows displaying the splendor of the freshly fallen white snow on the lawn. They are waking up, shuffling down the hallway of your 1.5 bedroom apartment to a tree that is backed up to a wall, next to a window displaying plows which are loudly shuffling slush around the streets below to see what presents you placed there which they had previously located because you had nowhere else to hide them but the entry closet. Why pretend otherwise.

How is IKEA not on top of both of these ideas?

But I still wasn't convinced that I'd found the right tree for me. So I looked to my Christmas tree goal. For a while now I've been collecting a few ski ornaments each year. My goal is to eventually have a full-sized Christmas tree with all ski ornaments. I have cleverly called it The Ski Tree. So I thought, what kind of tree do my ornaments want? A white one representing all snow, or a green one with that cottony stuff circling down from the top like a long, winding ski run. I'm still on the fence about which one is best. I think this weekend I will leave the world of online shopping and actually venture out into the real world and see what I find out there. Athough I might have to throw a few elbows out there. You know, 'cause it's Christmas in New York.

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