The Perfect, Imperfect Christmas Tree >

by Kayleen Larson

My husband once brought home a Christmas tree with needles so sharp I had to wear workman's gloves to decorate it.

Even our three-year-old twins resisted the temptation to pluck a candy cane from its branches. And our cats . . . well, let's just say everyone in the house learned to enjoy that particular tree from a distance.

It may not have been user-friendly, but it was a beautiful tree and it smelled heavenly. That's the thing about a real Christmas tree. It's not perfect. As far as I'm concerned, that's a big part of its charm. Turning the tree until you find its best side is a tradition So is strategically placing ornaments to fill out bare spots and hide those oddly shaped branches.

For some, choosing the right Christmas tree is simple: if it looks good and is the right height, it's the tree for them. Still others have a strong loyalty to type. They can't imagine decorating anything other than a balsam fir or a Colorado blue spruce. It is true that some trees are more fragrant or retain their needles better than others and this guide from The Minnesota Christmas Tree Association www.mncta.com/treeinfo.html is a quick and easy way to learn your firs from your spruces and pines.

One particularly lean year when I was growing up the only tree we could afford was a small, wilted looking thing - a real "Charlie Brown tree." We decorated it with strings of popcorn and cranberries that we made ourselves and just like the tree after which it was named, it underwent a stunning transformation. This brings me to the only advice I have to offer when it comes to creating the perfect Christmas tree . . .

Once you've chosen a tree, brought it home, turned that bad spot toward the wall and decorated it to a pure brilliance - resist the temptation to move any ornament, no matter how oddly it dangles, or how inappropriate its "size to location ratio," if it was placed there by a child.

"“Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.” - Larry Wilde