Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Truth about Live Christmas Trees

People always say that having some kind of a plant is a good way to ease into the responsibility of caring for another living being; something you should do, you know, before having kids or something. Even as a kid my mom wanted us to get hamsters and fish to prove to her that we were responsible enough to care for a dog (which, for the record, we never did).

I now have new appreciation for that train of thought--and I fully think it's ridiculous. Babies and dogs and cats? They will let you know when something is bothering them. Rodents and fish and plants? Not so much. A week and a half ago we brought a live pine tree into our house, and we could have left it sit in the corner without any further attention and our lives would not have been affected in the least. Sure, the tree may have started to brown, but that's nothing problematic. Bring a puppy or baby home and I promise you that it will make it's presence known whenever it needs something (which--random shout out--congrats to my good friend who just had a sweet baby boy yesterday! I'm sure she is already more than able to validate my statements). Thirsty baby? Oh yeah, you'll hear the crying. Thirsty tree? *Silence* And you would think that walking past the tree on a daily basis would be a reminder to water it--but nope. Not so much in this house. Watering our tree is very sporadic business; the tree stand is either full to the brim or flirting with being bone dry. Thankfully, we haven't managed to kill our tree yet. At least I'm assuming it's still alive because something keeps happening the with water we randomly poor into it (and no--we don't have any small animals that would be getting under there and drinking it).

For the record, I'm fully aware that once Darrell and I have kids I'll wish babies were much more silent in expressing their needs. But for now, I'll find solace in the fact that at least I'll be alerted to anything causing them general discomfort--very much unlike the dear tree residing in our living room.

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