O Possum, not a plastic Christmas tree!

My mother wanted a poinsettia for her coffee table for the Christmas season, so I went to a Calloway's Nursery for a pretty specimen. There they had two large spaces of Christmas trees, one of beautifully flocked natural trees with "Winter Wonderland" playing over the speakers. In the back they had another lot of plain natural cut trees. I walked up and down rows of firs, pines and spruces breathing their scents. A handsome young male clerk asked if I needed help. "Oh, no," I said. "I'm just snorting your trees." "I love working here," he said. "Good for your soul," I replied.

About seven years ago, being a grown up household and all where we don't stack packages under branches (tip: grown boys like cash), we started using live Norfolk pines as Christmas trees. We lost our first one last year to frost. We couldn't bring it in because it was 12 feet tall. This year's is about 4-1/2 feet tall, having started as a runt last year. It needs to be repotted, but might have to wait until after Christmas since we have rain this week. This year we will start a native pine for future needs. I don't like losing the Norfolks. After a year or so they become members of the family, and we are coming to the need to replace some pines in the yard that have been lost to beetles and age. A little pine that will eventually whistle in the wind is a Christmas tree I can live with.