The holidays in China-part 2: Finding a tree

So, about a week after Thanksgiving when I acknowledged that I was truly depressed about not being in the States for the holidays, I resolved that the way to feel better would be to get a Christmas tree and buy decorations for our house. You see, when we packed for 2 years in China, I was not thinking about holidays, I was thinking about what we needed for everyday living. I brought 12 bottles of Children's Tylenol, and a boatload of my contact solution, but not Christmas tree ornaments!
Our first quest was for a Christmas tree. We heard that the flower market has Christmas trees, so off we went. Flower markets here have live flowers and plants, as well as fake flowers and plants, and decorative items for purchase. Seemed reasonable. Well, being from Oregon and LOVING the fragrant 7 foot Noble fir tree that we tromp out to the farm and cut down every year, we were not willing to settle for the bush-like evergreens that had been trimmed into the shape of a Christmas tree. Plus, the limbs and needles were so soft that we didn't think ornaments would stay on them. Strike 1.
Next I hear from other friends that a company called Villa Lifestyles usually gets trees in from Denmark every Christmas. I find their email address and contact them. Nope, not this year. Strike 2.
Next, I mention to my friend Sarah, who's Jewish, that we have struck out looking for our Christmas tree. And she says, "Oh, I got mine at the florist in Xintiandi, they had a whole bunch." Uh, thanks. I was struck at that moment that this is such a great description of the expat community in Shanghai. Everybody helping everybody else out, and your key piece of information often coming from the most unlikely source!
So off I trooped to the florist. Sure enough, about 25 trees leaned up against the outside of the shop all wrapped in rope. There was no examining these trees from every angle and making sure there wasn't a "bad" side to the tree. There was only determining the right height, and then deciding if we wanted them to plant the tree or cut it off above the root-ball. Yes, that's right, these Christmas trees still had the root-ball intact. Since we have no Christmas tree stand and my Jewish friend didn't know where to get one of those, I opted for them to plant the tree in a....red bucket. Luckily, the first purchase I had made for the holiday season was a silk tree skirt that some enterprising ex-pat had made and was selling at the Shanghai Expat Association coffee. I hoped it would cover the bucket adequately!
Joe was on a business trip to Taiwan, and I happily reported to him that night that I had found a "proper" Christmas tree and it would be delivered the next day.
And it was, bucket and all. I untied the rope and let the branches down, and discovered that indeed our tree had a very bad side. One side was missing the branches about 1/3 of the way up the tree. Luckily the tree was going against the wall, so I turned it until the hole was against the wall. When I came back around front I realized that the tree was noticeably crooked. Since the tree was planted, I figured the only thing to do was re-plant it, but not by myself. So that night I had to report to Joe that our tree had a distinctly bad side, was crooked, and might be sparse enough to be described as a Charlie Brown tree. To which he says, "and how much did we pay for this 'proper' Christmas tree?" Um, not quite $100USD. Oh, and did I mention that it does not smell AT ALL? One of the best things about Christmas trees is how they make your whole house smell like a pine forest for weeks. There is nothing better than opening the door to your house and smelling pine. But, in fact, in China, even the proper Christmas trees have no scent to them whatsoever. Sigh.
Joe arrived home from his business trip and I greeted him with the news that the only way to fix the crooked tree was to re-plant it. Being Joe, he said "there's got to be another way." And please feel free to read that as "there's got to be an EASIER way." In the end, his solution was to stick a book under one side of the bucket. And when that tilted it too far to the other side, he stuck a stack of napkins under the other side! Over all this we placed the lovely tree skirt and said a quick prayer that the whole thing wouldn't come toppling down.