Our Christmas Tree

After 8 hours, 200+ miles, $100 spent on gas and another $100 on the tree, the Richardsons finally have a Christmas tree. It wasn't easy, though, just let me tell you.

Now, don't get me wrong. The Serbs are all about Christmas. For weeks now, stores have been loaded up with Christmas "stuff." Decorations, artificial trees, ornaments, you name it, it's here in Belgrade. Well, except for real Christmas trees -- good luck finding one of those!!

Last week, the Embassy provided us with a list of places in an around Belgrade where one can obtain a live tree. Although live trees evidently become somewhat abundant later in December, they are not easy to find this early in the season. This must be due to the fact that the Serbian Orthodox Christmas isn't celebrated until January. (This, of course, doesn't explain why Christmas decorations and the like have been in stores for weeks, but I've learned not to overanalyze these things.)

In any event, the only place that appeared to have trees taller than one meter at this point in the season was a place about 80 kilometers (approx. 50 miles) south of Belgrade. So, in what we thought would be a really fun-filled family day spent driving out of town to pick out a tree, we all loaded into the van Saturday morning around 10:30 or so. Four hours later, we returned home without a tree. First of all, the drive, which should have taken no more than an hour, took almost two hours. Ugh. Then, when we arrived at the tree farm, we were told that the trees cost one euro per centimeter. What???!!!??? At that rate, a 6-foot tree was going to cost us $300. We promptly got into the car and drove back to Belgrade, by way of a garden center that some nice Germans at the tree farm had told us about. Turns out that the garden center didn't have any live trees either. So, we came home empty-handed, and disappointed that we wouldn't spend our Saturday evening decorating our tree (instead, I watched Florida demolish Florida State -- all in all, it was a bust of a day!)

After church today, Eli and I set out today for another tree farm out of town (this one was closer), but just as we were getting close to the place, I looked at the sheet again and realized that it is closed on Sundays. Not my best move. We were back at square one.

Seems we were facing the artificial tree option right in the face. Growing up, we always had an artificial tree, and it seemed to work for my parents. As an adult, though, I've always had a strong preference for live trees, and Eli and I have never had (well, until now) an artificial tree. However, given that next weekend is crazy busy, and that we are leaving town on the 23rd, it was this weekend or never for getting a tree. And so, we did it. We went to the Merkur and bought an artificial tree. It's a "Highland Fur." It's really pretty. We just put it together. The kids have been gone all day to a soccer outing, but will be home in about an hour. They will be so excited to have a tree (real or not) and we'll enjoy our evening together trimming the tree. And, when Christmas is over, we can put our little Serbian tree in the box, and pull it out again next year, when we're thousands of miles away, and maybe, just maybe, this little Serbian tree will bring us happy memories of our time here.

Thanks, as always, for reading!

Erin