Meet Our Christmas Tree

**Updated at bottom

Not one for suspense, dis is our Christmas tree.

(Dat, behind tree, is Rockstar’s rendition of the Tractor Tipping scene in Cars, where Lightning McQueen unfortunately rouses Frank, the giant orange threshing machine who sleeps in the field with all the poor tractors Mater enjoys rudely waking.)

Dis is what our tree looked like in its natural habitat.

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Dis is our tree coming home from Indigo. No, it’s not real. We went searching for a small real one which is about all our poor apartment has space for, what with all the baby stuff and the Rockstar stuff and the JD stuff, but…..

Here’s the evidence:

What? They might have feelings, but they don’t read blogs.

After wandering all over the first shop, we got smarter and just asked at the entrance to each (they being next to each other) if they had anything that could pass for a Christmas tree in a pot. People barely looked at us before going Don’tHaveDon’tHave.

I wanted to get a large wreath at least for the smell, but guess what? Lotsa families who I suppose have guilty feelings about trees must’ve had the same idea because EVERY SINGLE LARGE WREATH IN THIS PLACE HAS BEEN BOUGHT – they’re just sitting around waiting to be picked up. “Been sold out for awhile,” the auntie apologetically tells us. (The large Christmas trees everywhere btw are not nearly as hot – maybe in part because apartments in HK are small in general, no room for large trees. Though I hope it’s also cos people tried to do without buying the killed tree…)

So we ended up with the little wreath Rockstar’s holding. I put that on our apartment door so we’d get a whiff every time we move in and out of the place. I keep sniffing it every time we come home. Tis the season.

And so Indigo. And it’s not real 🙁 But it looked so real I initially thought it was, was super happy, and it was the nicest looking little tree I could find which I told myself at least was made with real branches superglued together, not plastic. The Indigo salesperson refuses to humor me and insists it probably really is plastic albeit it doesn’t look like it. Lousy Sales. Humph.

(Oh, and the crackers underneath are environmentally friendly recycled ones too; I forget the exact words but aiya they goods lah. Real hard to pop though :P)

Anyway <sheepish> that was about two weeks ago. Very kiasu about how long I get my tree fix for, I love, love, love Christmas. Back in Singapore I used to wander Orchard Road and even City Hall often for the lights. Usually try to keep the tree for real long too, until the hub starts giving me funny looks. No, scratch that. Kings is neurotic about space and clutter, he is not going to rely on funny looks, nosirree.

I also found this “magic tree” in a bookstore:

It fluffs up pretty nice, but is super fragile, per the warning on the pack. One touch and the “leaves” come off.

That’s such an arty farty pic of what our mornings are like, though – Nespresso machine, breast milk, giant Coffee Bean cup for reheating milk (there used to be NO Coffee Bean and Tea Leafs in HK so I had a thing for buying their mugs to use in the office – and then Malaysian/Singaporean friends would get me some too…), and the G.O.D. doggie chew toy (green rubber “chinese lion” left of pic) I kept as “decor” cos JD goes through them real fast.

Here’s some other things I lusted after but didn’t get, from Gilt.com (would arrive too late for me to enjoy fully anyway):

Have loved “Baby Got Back” ever since watching Ross and Rachel rap it for baby Emma on Friends…

Nice graphics… But like, who gets their wienerdog an iPod?

This my favorite:

Darn I shouldn’t have sat on this post for so long. I have no hope of getting all these things before Christmas. My absolute favorite ornament this year however is the Prada Flame Shoe, immortalized forever (or until it crumbles) in Metropolitan Museum Of Art’s shoe ornament collection.

Your Tree Will Thank You

If you can’t imagine wearing this out (6 inch heel!?) but think it looks fuh-abulous like I do, get it for your tree.

Here’s a couple more things on our tree:

Kenneth Jay Lane earrings

There are 4 up on our tree – because one pair broke after much wear, another pair broke before I ever got to wear them! (Still annoyed). Either they languish in my Muji jewelry drawers Ms Rockstar shall rummage someday (wistful), or I do something with em.

Kenneth Jay Lane horn pendant on Gucci gold chain

That horn pendant has actually been in the French edition of one of the women’s magazines. Along with my YSL red Muse bag. Some guy stopped me at IFC one day to take the pic for an article about “HK Street Style”. (He also told me the name of the magazine – it was quite a famous one, like Marie Claire or Glamour or something just I forgot…) And I didn’t have the heart to tell him if he wanted street style he should be in Causeway Bay, not looking among the suits.

I bought the long 18k gold Gucci horsebit chain while I was carrying Rockstar. When pregnant with him I bought a lot of stuff. Toned down a lot carrying Ms Rockstar, because I was in no mood to shop (or really do anything) then…

Rockstar, having swiped the star off Ms Rockstar's felt tree (she has no special feelings for it), puts the finishing touch.

Anymore?

Yeah maybe. But I’ll shoot this out first. At least one of my tree posts’ll make it before Christmas. <bows>

**Update: Rockstar came home from school with this today:

Pretty darn nice right?

Obviously this now has a place of prominence on our tree… Especially since we keep losing our keepsakes from Rockstar’s baby years…