Try a two-tree approach

Sometimes the best answer is 'both'

I love Christmas trees. In particular, I like ones with tasteful lighting and ornaments in muted but festive colors, like you might see in a magazine. This became something of a source of holiday tension as we (like most families) have amassed a motley collection of slightly garish ornaments over the decades, to say nothing of multi-colored lights.

But then, a few years ago, I realized we didn’t have to choose between my vision of a lovely Christmas tree and everyone else’s. We could have both.

So now we have an artificial Christmas tree that comes down from the attic every year with its matched metallic decorations. It lives in the formal living room, and I call it the “fancy tree.” We also get a live Christmas tree from the local fire department and put that up in the foyer. My daughter jokingly calls it “the tree of the people” — and that is where all the brightly colored ornaments and colored lights go.

There didn’t have to be a compromise that left everyone unhappy or a choice that left one side unhappy. With the two-tree approach, everyone gets what they want.

I think there is merit to this approach in many situations.