The "It has to be a REAL Tree" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was getting the Christmas tree out. Thanksgiving was a week ago and it is now time for the next holiday. Carol and I have been married for over 40 years and we always had a REAL tree. Some were small, some were big, some were shaped really neat while others were flat on one side. But that's OK, since we always put it against the wall anyway. But, they were always REAL. Well, we decided to buy an artificial tree. Weren't going to tell anyone since we always complained about people who had artificial trees. We found this really neat 12 foot tree at Costco. Wasn't cheap, but it really looked like a REAL tree. Had a gadzillion lights on it and came in four parts. Looked like the tree for us. Must have weighed close to a hundred pounds. Took all we could muster to get it in the back of the car. Box just fit in our Mountaineer. Got it home and it did look great. After decorating it and turning on all the lights, it looked REAL. And most people didn't know the difference. Great! Well, Christmas passed and the dreaded day came when we would have to take it down. Carol was OK with leaving it up year-round, but I could hardly wait to get it down. Actually, I am in favor of taking it down on New Years' Day, but I always get outvoted by Carol and the cats, who love to lay under it. They do miss not having the water to drink from the tree stand. The cats, I mean! Pack up all the ornaments and then put the tree back in the box. Now what!! Where so we store the box? Haven't a clue. Won't fit down our basement stairs and the two cars fill the garage. Didn't plan ahead, did we? Then I got this brilliant idea. We will store it above our garage in the storage space. We have stairs in the garage that lead to the storage space and we have other items stored there, but I'm sure we can make room for the tree. Next, how do we get it up there. I had to remove the railing that was on the side of the storage space to keep you from falling off. I then sketched a few ideas and went and bought the parts. I rigged a pulley system to the ceiling of the garage and used nylon straps around the box to haul it to the top .... with my car! Pretty neat idea, if I can say so! Now every year after Thanksgiving I take the railing down, hook up the ropes and haul the tree down from the storage area with the car. Works great!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.