Christmas Tips

When my mother first told me that she wanted a table top Christmas tree this year I was a little surprised. I immediately imagined a miniature holiday tree with miniature decorative ornaments sitting about one or two feet in height. While this seems like a great thing for a child I was a little taken back that an adult would want such an item.

Mom’s hints kept getting a little more and more obvious as the weeks went by. Her birthday is right after Thanksgiving and she usually wants at least one of her kids to give her a holiday-related ornament or decoration for her home. She has a great collection and I just figured that the unusual hint for a table top Christmas tree was just the beginning of a new menagerie of Christmas decorations for the home.

That was until I discovered what exactly she meant by a table top Christmas tree. I was thinking of the traditional holiday evergreen but she was talking about something entirely different. Once she brought the famous artist Thomas Kinkade into the conversation about her table top Christmas tree I began to think that I had the wrong idea.

I know that she is a big fan of Thomas Kinkade but I had no idea what he had to do with her recent mentioning of the table top Christmas tree. Once my visit at my mother’s house was over I decided to check out what was available on the Internet. I was really surprised and pleased by what I discovered.

Thomas Kinkade has a line of different products available during the holiday season. His art is of timeless beauty. His work always reminded me of Impressionist paintings but with a country charm that can not be reproduced. In his new holiday collection is a selection of table top Christmas trees that are truly remarkable.

I knew from the moment that I saw them that they must be the items Mom has been going on and on about. There are quite a few to choose from but I think that I have the table top Christmas tree that I am going to purchase for my mother narrowed down to just three. This was not an easy task by any means. Each table top Christmas tree is lovely.

The trees are made of porcelain and each has beautiful detail that tells a story. I probably will choose the nativity theme for my mother’s first Thomas Kinkade table top Christmas tree. I guess that I shouldn’t worry about which one I choose. No matter what she will love it and I’m sure that this table top Christmas tree will be the first of many in the years to come.

If you are dreaming of a white Christmas, but happen to live in the middle of New Mexico, your options might be rather limited. I know because that is exactly the position that I happen to be in right now. I would love to cut down a nice Douglas Fir for my Christmas celebration, string it with Christmas lights, and just watch the snow fall outside, but except for the lights bit, all of this is nothing more than a pipe dream. It seems that the best that I can do is to get my own Prelit Artificial Christmas Tree. Of course a prelit Christmas tree is better than nothing, but it is sure quite far from what I really want.

It is not like Christmas in the southwest began with the Prelit Artificial Christmas Tree, but it certainly did gain a bit of authenticity with it. The fact is that, before people started going in for their Prelit Artificial Christmas Trees, there were authentic southwestern Christmas traditions. Funny as it might sound, we would decorate cacti with Christmas lights. And why not, I ask? Do you think that it was really snowing in Bethlehem of all places, on the original Christmas eve? Of course not. That is just stupid. The idea of the Christmas tradition that we have is a Northern European adaptation, no less silly and arbitrary than a lighted cactus, or a Prelit Artificial Christmas Tree for that matter. I suppose what really matters is the same thing that always matters. That is to make sure that whatever you do is exactly what is important to you, and not what someone else tells you that Christmas should be about. If you want a Prelit Artificial Christmas Tree, more power to you. If you decide to leave the Prelit Artificial Christmas Tree in the close, and string up a cactus this year, I say go for it. Just remember to enjoy yourself is all that I ask.

Of course, when you do get a Prelit Artificial Christmas Tree, you should take a great bit of care in picking it. After all, they do cost a pretty penny, and who would want to get another one the very next year. For every real Christmas tree species that you can use, I would say that there is at least one Prelit Artificial Christmas Tree model, but probably more like three or four, so choose carefully.