“Hi, can I help you find something?” the girl said with a smile as she looked up at me. Her red cap covered the top of her head of long, brown and shiny hair.
“Well, right now, I am trying to find my husband. He got away from me right when we got here. I don’t know where he is,” I said.
“I have heard a lot of people say that they are looking for someone today.” Her smile was contagious. This was our first time getting a Christmas tree without any of our children along to help. Since Mike is always in a bit of a hurry, I should not have been so surprised that he disappeared from me so soon.
“Really?” I asked, as I spotted Mike coming out of the forest of Christmas trees in the lot. He walked towards us. “Oh, there he is,” I said to the girl.
“How tall of a tree do you want?” the girl asked us.
“Oh, about that tall,” I said, as I held my hand over Mike’s head.
“That’s about six feet,” said another worker as he walked by.
“Where are the Fraser Firs?” I asked the girl. Mike went off again to find some fir trees that he liked.
The girl showed me some fir trees and named many other types of trees as we walked along the dirt path.
“A blue spruce is good if you have a cat because it is pokey. It will poke a cat if it wants to play with the tree,” she said.
“We have a new dog, and I don’t know how the dog is going to react to having a tree in the house.”
“My dog doesn’t play with the tree, but it does like to drink the water.”
Mike found a Fraser Fir that he liked, but we noticed that it had two tops that had grown a little above the center of the tree.
“We can cut some of that off, if you like,” said the girl. “What kind of top do you put on your tree?” she asked.
“We have a star. The star could fit right over all these little things poking out,” I said.
Mike twirled the tree around and we noticed a bare spot in the back.
“We can face that part towards the wall,” I said.
“Would you like a fresh-cut?” she asked.
“Yes.” The girl quickly found her brother and asked him to saw off the bottom of the tree. She told him that Dad showed her how to do it, but that Dad didn’t want her to do that yet. The brother sawed away some of the branches and the bottom as he mumbled some things that we couldn’t hear. It made us realize why his sister was the one out selling trees.
“Do you want to haul this out to the car for me?” Mike joked to the girl.
“Oh, I can find someone to help you,” she said.
“Oh, that’s okay,” Mike said, as he started to haul the tree to the van. We exchanged “Merry Christmas” wishes as we said our goodbyes and thanked each other.
Since our own children were not with us, I was so glad to meet a very nice and helpful young lady; someone who shared some Christmas cheer with us.
After we got home and had the tree all set up, Lila sniffed at it a little. I put water in the stand, and it was if the sales girl had been predicting the future: Lila drank some of the water.
If things continue this way, it looks like I am going to have to water the tree more than usual this year!
My Reality Show 
I do miss the part of finding that perfect tree, but I don’t miss the mess and remembering to water the tree every day. Especially with the dogs drinking from it! LOL
Nice story.
Thanks, Jodi.
She sounds like a very engaging young lady. I love when someone goes out of their way to make such a visit more enjoyable. She’ll go far in life.
We have an artificial tree and Lucy has been very respectful of it. The only problem is when the cat decides to lounge on the tree skirt and Lucy thinks she can get under there too!
Yes, this young lady really made a nice impression. She could probably sell swamp land!
Lila has been very concerned with all the different decorations that are around the house. We have blocked off our tree so that she stays away from the ornaments. She thinks that anything shaped like a ball is for her to play with!