If you’ve gone to a grocery store in the last year, you’ve see the ridiculous rise in costs on just about everything you buy. Items I frequently purchase have gone up $1 or more in the last year. Household staples like mayonnaise, chicken stock and milk have astronomical prices. And don’t even think about produce; since when are strawberries $7 a container? No matter where you go, prices are insane.
This weekend I was at our local produce store and saw a sight that made me almost cry happy tears: the Christmas trees had arrived! This place is usually our first (and only) stop when it’s time for the annual pilgrimage to pick out the Christmas Trees. No need for us to trudge through a field to find a tree and cut it down ourselves (who has time for that?). Instead, we’re able to shop easily (and quickly!) to find the perfect trees. Yes, trees plural. Two. Though I’d get three if we had the room.
I was so excited to see the trees that I took a photo and sent it to Mr. KK. Now, we have already compromised that I must wait until 12:01am on the Friday after Thanksgiving before I can start decorating for Christmas. Perhaps Mr. KK feels our meal may taste differently if he’s surrounded by trees vs turkeys. So the Friday after Thanksgiving is pretty much “Sparkly Friday” over here, because that is when the bins (and bins, and bins) of Christmas decor make their way up from the basement so I could deck the halls all day long. Cue the Christmas channel on Spotify!
In my excitement to send Mr. KK the below photo, I didn’t read the sign next to the trees.
The price for a 6-7 foot frasier fir tree is $89.99.
$90 for a short tree.
No one loves Christmas more than I do, but $90 for a tree that grows naturally outside? Maybe it was my little local shop realizing they could be charging more like the tree farms.
But a quick Google search showed me this: “Data from the National and the American Christmas Tree Associations state the average price of an authentic Christmas tree is between $80 and $100. This reflects about a 10% increase that occurred in the last year, largely due to inflation and drought.”
I looked back in photos from past years of our tree outing, and found a photo from 2021 where Mr. KK is holding up our tree, and the tag on it reads $65. Yep, $25 less only 2 years ago.
“So why don’t you spend $200 on an artificial tree and use it every year it would be so much cheaper?”
Great question! Because I like having a real tree. I love the smell. I love the tradition. I love the slight imperfections. And did I mention that piney smell?
When I was growing up, we had an artificial tree. This was back in the late 70s when artificial trees bore zero resemblance to actual trees. Our tree had a dark green metal pole that snapped into a metal X. Inside the box were about 30 “branches” that you stuck into the holes in the metal pole until you had a plastic-looking, sparse “tree” that would go up in flames if it ever came near fire.
Now you can find artificial trees that are incredibly realistic. I imagine if I had two large boxes with trees in them and we had to find room to store them in the basement, Mr. KK might throw all my Christmas decor on the lawn and light it on fire.
I have designated the first Saturday in December as the day we will get our Christmas trees. It’s early enough that we can enjoy it for weeks, but not too early that it will dry out and drop brown needles before Santa comes.
I will do my homework and price shop real trees before December 2, and find the best place for us to go: a balance of cost and quality of trees. We’ll have our usual discussion on tree shape because Mr. KK likes a taller, tapered tree while I prefer a big, fat, round tree (translation: more lights and ornaments!), so we agree on something between the two. By the evening on Sunday, December 3, our tree will be up, lights on and decorating can commence.
Here’s my time-lapse video of decorating last year – enjoy!
Life of kk 