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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Michael If Americans buy a Christmas tree at all, they usually start looking for it at Thanksgiving at the end of November. They also set it up and decorate it right away, because after all, this way they get more out of their investment.
Angelika also wants a Christmas tree every year, but she prefers to buy it shortly before the 24th and set it up only on the 24th. A week before the holiday, the sales locations usually still offer acceptable trees, but at our usual spot this year, there were only three-meter-tall giant trees and one-meter-small mini trees left; the mid-sized trees were completely sold out. We eventually found one that was 2 meters 10, but when we asked how much it would cost, the man said dryly: 176 dollars, which made us reconsider.
After an hour of driving across the city, checking various Safeway parking lots where trees were supposedly being sold according to the internet, but in reality only housed already closed sales shacks, we finally found success at a garden center by the ocean. From the five remaining trees, we chose the best one, and while the employee was tying the tree to our car roof, he told us that this year had been particularly crazy. Many more people than usual were staying in the city for the holidays, and while the store typically sold 600 Christmas trees per season, they had wisely ordered 1,000 this year, but they were now practically all gone, and getting more stock quickly was not possible.
So now a $119 tree stands on our balcony, waiting for December 24th, when it will be allowed into the living room and be decorated by Angelika herself in an elaborate process. Meanwhile, I write articles for computer magazines or go surfing.
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