Day 75 -- Apple the Christmas Tree

I got a Christmas tree growing kit in my stocking for Christmas this year.  It was a cute little ecologically-conscious gift.  You get a bamboo pot and inside is some soil, some seeds, and some directions for growing your very own Christmas tree.  There was just one problem with this amazing gift: I kill plants.

It's true.  My track record is sketchy at best.  As I'm typing this, I'm looking at the ivy up on the shelf whose leaves are looking a bit on the crunchy side.  I have managed to kill off at least a dozen or so hanging baskets.  My tomatillo plant last year grew to gigantic proportions, but yielded no tomatillos.  Shoot, even my hostas die off from being eaten down to the nubbins by hungry woodland creatures.  I have the best of intentions, I just have a hard time keeping plants alive.  I call it my "black thumb of plant death".  I desperately want to have plants (prefererably living) and a garden.  It all seems so Mother Earth-y, and that fits in line with my Captain Planet mentality.  So far, I just haven't had much luck with it.

So, you can understand my apprehension about growing a Christmas tree in a bamboo pot from scratch.

A week ago today I bit the bullet.  I opened the package, read the directions, planted the seeds, and waited.  This morning, I saw the cutest little seedling coming out of the soil. 

I'm thankful because there is (for the time being anyway) a baby Christmas tree in my house.  I got to show Breslin and Dharia the baby tree.  I'm grateful that they were incredibly excited, much more than I thought they would be.  Breslin even named the tree "Apple" and both of them tiptoed around the pot saying "Shhhh, the baby is sleeping!"  It might not sound like it, but it was a neat little moment, one that I will never forget.

Colby suggested taking a picture of the tree with the kids, since some day this might be our actual Christmas tree.  How neat would it be to have a picture of the kids and the tree so tiny and then another one of the tree and the kids so big?  A nice idea, sure, but I balked at it, because it might just end up being another piece of evidence against me, the plant killer.  But, I'll think about it.

For now, here's a picture of what is said to be "an elegant gift for anyone with a green thumb" (according to the website):
This is what it should look like.  We're not there yet.
Thank God for Apple the Christmas Tree!

Lord, thank you for giving life to the beautiful plants all around me including the little seedling in my house.  Thank you for the moment that this baby tree provided our family today.  If it is your will, I pray that you would allow this tree to grow and be healthy.  In your name I pray, Amen.

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