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I decided to make Cut Back on the Holiday Madness a series, so here is the second installment.
When we first got married, I introduced Bryan to the idea of getting a living Christmas tree. You know, one in a pot that you could plant after Christmas. In our hot and dry desert climate, there’s really only one pine tree that does well here, the Aleppo pine, but I’m sure other regions of the country have a wider variety of choices. When we were first getting trees, they were less than $100, but as the years went by, the price of the trees went up dramatically. Also, we are terrible procrastinators, and our tree would sit out in our front yard way too long before we got around to arranging a donation. Our legacy from this era of our family life is one lone tree that made it to a nearby park. It is amazing to drive by now, though, since it has grown to an impressive size!
Living Tree Alternative
One year, Bryan decided that the expense and hassle of a living tree was too much for us anymore and decided to find an alternative. He knew I didn’t care for fake trees, and a cut tree was not an option, so he started searching the Interwebs for others’ wisdom and creativity. Enter the Ladder Tree.
We even had a green ladder already in the garage!
Ladder Tree
Now, every year (after he has used the ladder to put up the house lights), he brings it in, strings it with wire and lights, and the kids have a great time putting on our ornaments and sitting and staring at it throughout the holiday season. It doesn’t cost anything. It doesn’t need water. We don’t have to wonder what we’re going to do with it after the holiday season is over, and it doesn’t even take up more space in the garage other than the space that we already need for a ladder. It’s perfect!
More so than all of the above reasons, I love it just because we are bucking the system and doing something different than everyone else. I like that we think outside the box and come up with simple solutions that save us money and resources at the same time.
How about you? Would you consider a ladder tree? What about other ideas that are unconventional, but work for your family?
Just remember to use the ladder to hang the house lights BEFORE letting the kids decorate it.
Love this idea. I would definitely do this. Kind of wish I saw this before we spent over $200 on a new ‘fake’ tree from QVC. Although it’s absolutely gorgeous, I really like this ladder idea. Looks great.
Right?! Maybe when your QVC tree wears out after many, many years, you can switch to a Ladder Tree!