Amy Lu's View

This year I took my birthday observance to a new level (not saying in which direction) and decorated a birthday tree.

My birthday tree was initially our Christmas tree. We broke with our tradition and put up an artificial tree this year. I was excited by this change–I didn’t think Chad would be up for it, but jokingly suggested it as we were late in getting a real tree. When Chad was open to the fake tree option, I seized it. I’m not anti-real tree, but we always had fake Christmas trees when I was a kid and they seem like less hassle. 

Procuring an artificial tree turned out to be a bit of an undertaking itself. Ideally, I would have loved to have a retro aluminum tree, but I wasn’t willing to put the time or money into finding one. My laziness basically limited me to shopping at Target or Home Depot. 

Since we were going the faux route, we both agreed to go all in with it and we got a white tree. No one would think we were harboring any illusions that our tree could pass as real. (I did suggest a pink tree but that was a little too extreme for Chad). 

Once we had a white faux Christmas tree up, it was a short distance to “Hey, let’s make that a Valentine’s tree,” especially as I already had some appropriate lights. I also have a personal precedent for having a Valentine’s tree because I had them in my young teen days.

Having a Valentine’s Day tree isn’t that unusual, but a birthday tree? I’m not sure what inspired me to give it a whirl–I definitely wouldn’t have bothered if my birthday wasn’t so soon after Valentine’s Day. 

So what does a “birthday tree” even mean? How would I decorate it? Lots of ideas floated through my head, ranging from the silly to the obscure. Should I embrace the birthday party motif? Have lots of cupcake lights? Do I decorate with ornaments that somehow symbolize Amyness? Do I just go with anything teal (my birthstone color) or fish-related (as Pisces is my Zodiac sign). I was limited by not wanting to invest too much time into my birthday tree or buying too much from Amazon, especially as I don’t know if this will just be a one time passing fancy. 

I ended up with a loosely-themed Pisces tree with teal lights and a string of “Ocean Beach Themed Sea Life Cute Fairy Decorative String Lights”. (Unfortunately, I missed that this string of lights is battery operated, so they’re not very convenient to turn on). I also got a string of lights that spell out “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” and supplemented the lights with some teal flower lights I already owned because of years of being interested in decorative lights. 

I don’t have too many ornaments on the tree–I was able to use some plastic “Happy Birthday” rings that originally were cupcake toppers so I felt pretty resourceful about that. I also hung up some plastic bead strings that have fish on them that I found buried in my jewelry chest (no, I did not get them at mardi gras and I have no idea why I have them). After some deliberation, I decided to leave the sushi Christmas ornament, even though it feels a little macabre to have on a fish/Pisces themed tree.

I don’t have a topper for my tree, but I did repurpose two big Pisces symbols that were part of a banner. Overall, the banner was a purchase fail–it was supposed to say “Big Pisces Energy” but when I opened it I discovered that I needed to string the banner together. NO. I guess I’m not sure what “Big Pisces Energy” means (the phrase just amuses me) but certainly no one with Big Pisces Energy is going to be bothered with assembling a manner. We Pisceans are clearly too busy being emotional and creative and needy for that. 

Now that we’re past the Days of Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20), I’m pondering the value of my birthday tree. Did it make my birthday more festive? Add a little spark to my celebration? I’m not sure yet if my birthday tree was worth the effort, or the space it takes up, and now I need to decide if I’m going to leave our tree up and redecorate it for Easter. I think I will, since I already have some easter/spring light strings. I am a little nervous to play in this “Christmas tree gets left up all year” space, especially given my sister’s history with leaving up a tree most (all?) of the year (yes, another slightly oblique reference to the family feud/fish sandwich in the Christmas tree story that you will have to ask me about in person), but I think I’ll risk it. Maybe we’ll deliberately end up being a “tree of life” house celebrating everything from my birthday to quirky national holidays to personal milestones.

What could a Chamy 30th Anniversary tree look like? (To be continued?…)

If you do happen to see our Tree of Life (not to be confused with a “Life Day” tree that might celebrate the wookie holiday) when you visit or drive by our house (or if you happen to be our neighbor) please just know that it is intentional, and that we haven’t left our Christmas tree ups as a sign that we’ve just thrown in the towel when it comes to upholding our domestic standards (we’ve got other signs of that).