Tree murderers!

All! One hit-man, and the people who hired the hit-man. :p

The peasants probably need the work. Times are tough...

You'll appreciate this, then. We were considering what to do about the tree issue ourselves. The new house has a rather small living room, and with the woodstove in use we can't really put anything combustible (cf. tree, real or artificial) at that end of the room. We have a really big couch and a china cabinet in there on two of the three remaining walls, and there are tall windows on the third.

We have a fairly large artificial tree we bought probably 18 years ago. It's really good quality and still looks awesome, but it's big. If we put it up between the windows, the only alternative that doesn't involve relocating large pieces of furniture, no one would be able to see the TV in the far corner.

We thought about getting a real tree in a pot, but were dissuaded by the nursery guy - temperature shock would kill it as soon as we put it outside again. Might as well get a cut tree, if we're going to do that.

So, what did we do? We took our nice, big artificial tree and put it up sans back branches, so it fits more or less flush against the wall between the windows. It still blocks out the view of the TV from the very end of the couch, but that's liveable. And we have tree, and we didn't have to kill to get it, or spend anything but time!

(Of course, we had to run a cord through the middle and tie it to the wall, because it's top-heavy now, but that's a small price to pay.)

Fake tree inside, decorate a real tree outside with unbreakable or "disposable" ornaments, such as bird food and a tray of water on frozen mornings? ;)

oh, right - paper tree? There could be a lot of fun in that, with folded parts that open and glittery bits. :)

Peasants, hit-men and murder, oh my! :)

I am attempting to create a "cat-proof" tree-substitute this weekend... If it works, I might actually use my account and post some photos...

Merry Christmas plotting and planning!