* The Shed gets a Christmas tree

I have made the effort to squeeze a little Christmas tree into The Shed the past couple years.  The Shed for those of you who don't know is my humble 285 square foot living space that I call home on Peaks Island.  I rent from two fabulous landlords, Skip and Andy, and we're just steps from the water. 

This year I decided to put my tree outside on my deck (which is also a killer new addition to my place this summer) and don it with white lights.  While I love the smell of a tree and the festive mood it puts me in for the holiday season, decorating it with childhood ornaments, and yelling at the cats to not drink the tree water or eat the pine needles, my outdoor choice was a good one. Three perks.... more available precious space inside The Shed, less maintenance / cat managing for me, and more tree admiring for folks getting off the boat.  You'll have to look hard though, it's quite small.

My fellow climber friend Jen and I excitedly went together to Skillins in Falmouth to get our trees this year.  However, we had the most anti-climactic, non-festive tree acquiring experience.  We were in and out with both trees in probably a record-breaking time of 6 minutes and 37 seconds.  So fast we didn't know what hit us until we got in her turck, had a laugh, and vowed to cut our own trees next year at her uncle's tree farm, provided the trees are ready.  We did each get a couple Skillins bucks though.

I should have known when I hauled the tree with one hand up Welch Street getting off the boat, that it was a small one.  I laughed when I stood her upright on my new large deck at how tiny she looked.  Clearly I'm still not used to so much space.  I plopped her in my large pot that housed my tomatoes this summer, but as I suspected the soil was not enough to hold her up and within a few days and a puff of wind, she was sideways and the plug for the lights pulled out of the outlet timer as a result of the fall. 

I proceeded to do what I knew I should have done from the start.  I dug out out my actual tree stand, loaded it with rocks, and installed a matrix of twine from tree to deck railing to ensure she'll last through the season.  I think mission accomplished... so far so good.

Despite all this, I have found it is still nice to have my Christmas tree outside and once some snow falls (pretty please!) she'll look even more festive!  (P.S. A winter shed-o-que / sled-o-que will be in order once we get a dumping of the white stuff!)  

So Islanders, get those binoculars out and look for the other tree down front the next time you get off the boat!  I'll try to get a larger one next year!  'Tis the season!