{"id":680,"date":"2014-12-07T23:01:48","date_gmt":"2014-12-07T23:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/?p=680"},"modified":"2020-07-15T19:45:38","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T19:45:38","slug":"faking-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Faking the Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"<body><p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">You can fake fur and smiles, and, as I know now, pretty Christmas trees! We\u2019ve put our Kinston, NC house on the market (For some reason everyone thinks this means we\u2019re leaving town\u2026 We\u2019re not. We just want a fun new house project!) and, to ease the stress of keeping things perfectly organized and clean while we\u2019re showing it, we rented a house in a different neighborhood. They have lovely floors, and I didn\u2019t want to risk damaging them with a real tree, so, for the first time in my entire life, I got a fake tree. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">In my mind, buying a fake tree was going to be easy. Two hours, two Wal-Marts and my entire babysitter time later, I broke down and bought an 8-foot, flocked, pre-lit tree instead of the 5-foot, non-lit, flocked tree I was promised was waiting for me at the second, thirty-minute-away Wal-Mart. Because it wasn\u2019t waiting\u2026 I was sweaty (it was 70 degrees and I had on a wool sweater) and tired and very non-holiday feeling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Here\u2019s the thing about\u00a0an\u00a08-foot tree. It wouldn\u2019t fit in my\u00a0car. And while I was trying to take it apart to shove it in there section by section a lady was harassing me to buy pirated DVDs. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Then I got home. And couldn\u2019t. Find. The directions. I had this idea in my head that Will\u00a0was going to get\u00a0home and his Elf on the Shelf (first year for that!) was going to be waiting underneath this gorgeously lit tree with a note from Santa. So I couldn\u2019t put this off on hubby. I was going to have to go it alone. I nearly electrocuted myself (the plugs didn\u2019t have the plastic parts on them but since I had to leave the box in the parking lot, it wasn\u2019t like I could\u00a0return the thing!) and was covered in fake snow flocking that I now know is\u2026 flame retardant. It makes sense that your fake tree would need to be flame retardant. But it\u2019s sort of ironic since I bought us all certified organic mattresses and procure flame retardant-free jammies for Will. I\u2019m so paranoid about the chemicals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">At any rate, I got the thing together and up and a flame-retardant snow-covered mother was waiting to present her child with his elf from Santa. We decorated the tree\u00a0with all these big, bright turquoise, hot pink and lime green ornaments \u2014 not a Christopher Radko, or Old World Christmas or hand-blown anything in the bunch!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">And Will was so excited about the whole thing that I forgot how hot and irritated I had been all day. And I realized a few ornaments and a couple of Christmas songs in that not only did I really feel in the holiday spirit, but that I also kind of loved my big, bright, fake tree. Which goes to show: You can\u2019t fake holiday spirit. But you can totally fake the tree!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can fake fur and smiles, and, as I know now, pretty Christmas trees! We\u2019ve put our Kinston, NC house on the market (For some reason everyone thinks this means we\u2019re leaving town\u2026 We\u2019re not. We just want a fun new house project!) and, to ease the stress of keeping things perfectly organized and clean…<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397,10,276,1],"tags":[277,281,278,280,279],"class_list":{"0":"post-680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"category-families","8":"category-holidays","9":"category-uncategorized","10":"tag-christmas","11":"tag-christmas-decorations","12":"tag-christmas-tree","13":"tag-flocked-christmas-tree","14":"tag-pre-lit-tree","15":"entry","16":"has-post-thumbnail"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Faking the Tree - Kristy Woodson Harvey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I realized this year that, despite my previous ideas about them, in a pinch, a pre-lit, fake Christmas tree can be just as good as the real thing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faking the Tree - Kristy Woodson Harvey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I realized this year that, despite my previous ideas about them, in a pinch, a pre-lit, fake Christmas tree can be just as good as the real thing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kristy Woodson Harvey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-07T23:01:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-15T19:45:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"kristywharvey@gmail.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"kristywharvey@gmail.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/\",\"name\":\"Faking the Tree - Kristy Woodson Harvey\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-07T23:01:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-15T19:45:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6c17638566441dcb20635681a619b6dc\"},\"description\":\"I realized this year that, despite my previous ideas about them, in a pinch, a pre-lit, fake Christmas tree can be just as good as the real thing.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Faking the Tree\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/\",\"name\":\"Kristy Woodson Harvey\",\"description\":\"author\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6c17638566441dcb20635681a619b6dc\",\"name\":\"kristywharvey@gmail.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a162fecc410823b085c0999331e894ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a162fecc410823b085c0999331e894ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"kristywharvey@gmail.com\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/author\/kristywharveygmail-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Faking the Tree - Kristy Woodson Harvey","description":"I realized this year that, despite my previous ideas about them, in a pinch, a pre-lit, fake Christmas tree can be just as good as the real thing.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Faking the Tree - Kristy Woodson Harvey","og_description":"I realized this year that, despite my previous ideas about them, in a pinch, a pre-lit, fake Christmas tree can be just as good as the real thing.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/","og_site_name":"Kristy Woodson Harvey","article_published_time":"2014-12-07T23:01:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-07-15T19:45:38+00:00","author":"kristywharvey@gmail.com","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"kristywharvey@gmail.com","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/","name":"Faking the Tree - Kristy Woodson Harvey","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-07T23:01:48+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-15T19:45:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6c17638566441dcb20635681a619b6dc"},"description":"I realized this year that, despite my previous ideas about them, in a pinch, a pre-lit, fake Christmas tree can be just as good as the real thing.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/faking-tree\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Faking the Tree"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/","name":"Kristy Woodson Harvey","description":"author","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6c17638566441dcb20635681a619b6dc","name":"kristywharvey@gmail.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a162fecc410823b085c0999331e894ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a162fecc410823b085c0999331e894ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"kristywharvey@gmail.com"},"url":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/author\/kristywharveygmail-com\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4HpjJ-aY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3227,"href":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/3227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kristywoodsonharvey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}