The Great Christmas Tree Search of 2012

Let me preface this post by saying we weren't really expecting an epic search for a tree.  As far as I know, there are no places nearby to cut down your own tree, so we just planned to buy a live one at one of the many home improvement stores or tree lots around town.  We are usually out of town with family for Christmas, so we have used an artificial tree.  This year - for the first time in eight(!) years - we will be on our own for Christmas, so we opted for the real thing.

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The Great Christmas Tree Search of 2012 began with dinner at Pizza Hut.  Following the meal, we drove to Lowe's to check out the tree selection.  It looked good!  We found one we liked, then we just needed to grab a tree stand.  From the restocking guy: "We're all out of tree stands.  I don't think we'll be getting anymore in."

You can't have a live tree without a tree stand.  Everybody piled back in the van, sans tree.

Off to Wal-Mart!  More trees!  Lovely.  We can get one here.  Oh, and ornaments!  Let's grab a set of matching shatterproof balls.  "No tree stands here.  Sorry!"

We bought the balls anyway.

How about Home Depot?  We sang Christmas carols in the car.  Hooray!  A Christmas tree lot in the Home Depot parking lot.  "We don't have any Christmas tree stands.  Our manager said that we don't have any ordered, either."

Sigh.

At this point, we seriously considered giving up.  But Target is across the street!  Emmett dropped me off at Target, while he took the kids through the Chick Fil A drive through for milkshakes.  Note:  In some parts of the country, Christmas tree buying is accompanied by hot chocolate.  It was 86 degrees in south Texas today, so we opted for ice cream instead.

God bless Target!  There were TWO tree stands on the shelf.  I only grabbed one, although I did consider taking the other one and selling it for five times its value on Craigslist.  Clearly there is a tree stand shortage in the Rio Grande Valley.

Now, ready with a tree stand, shatterproof ornaments, and milkshakes, we returned to the Home Depot.  Just as we got out of the van and walked up to the Christmas tree lot, the employee shut and locked the gate.  "We're closed!"

I don't know how the story ends, because at that point, we gave up.

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Look for the (hopefully successful) conclusion post tomorrow!