If you are dreaming of a white Christmas, but happen to live in the middle of New Mexico, your options might be rather limited. I know because that is exactly the position that I happen to be in right now. I would love to cut down a nice Douglas Fir for my Christmas celebration, string it with Christmas lights, and just watch the snow fall outside, but except for the lights bit, all of this is nothing more than a pipe dream. It seems that the best that I can do is to get my own Artificial Prelit Christmas Tree. Of course a prelit Christmas tree is better than nothing, but it is sure quite far from what I really want.
It is not like Christmas in the southwest began with the Artificial Prelit Christmas Tree, but it certainly did gain a bit of authenticity with it. The fact is that, before people started going in for their Artificial Prelit Christmas Trees, there were authentic southwestern Christmas traditions. Funny as it might sound, we would decorate cacti with Christmas lights. And why not, I ask? Do you think that it was really snowing in Bethlehem of all places, on the original Christmas eve? Of course not. That is just stupid. The idea of the Christmas tradition that we have is a Northern European adaptation, no less silly and arbitrary than a lighted cactus, or a Artificial Prelit Christmas Tree for that matter. I suppose what really matters is the same thing that always matters. That is to make sure that whatever you do is exactly what is important to you, and not what someone else tells you that Christmas should be about. If you want a Artificial Prelit Christmas Tree, more power to you. If you decide to leave the Artificial Prelit Christmas Tree in the close, and string up a cactus this year, I say go for it. Just remember to enjoy yourself is all that I ask.
Of course, when you do get a Artificial Prelit Christmas Tree, you should take a great bit of care in picking it. After all, they do cost a pretty penny, and who would want to get another one the very next year. For every real Christmas tree species that you can use, I would say that there is at least one Artificial Prelit Christmas Tree model, but probably more like three or four, so choose carefully.
