Before deciding to build a house, we shopped around for existing homes.

Generally, you get a gut feeling right away whether a particular property is a good match for your family, and one of the first things I look for is a place to put the Christmas tree. It could be the middle of July, but I still want to know if there's room for a tree. A big tree.

My husband, meanwhile, looks for a place to put the pool table. (We don't have a pool table.)

During the three long years of planning and construction on our house, the Christmas decorations remained packed away. That didn't stop me from hitting the after-Christmas sales to snap up bargains on blue and silver ornaments. A new house deserves a new holiday color scheme, I reasoned.

We finally moved in a couple of months ago, so this is our first Christmas in our new home. I went a little overboard with the decorations. On the first day of the Star Market tree sale, I went out and bagged the biggest noble fir I could find — a 9-footer. The trunk barely fit in our tree stand, and we were able to stand it up in the corner only after snipping a couple of inches off the top. It's magnificent.

It took most of the day to set up the lights, the new ornaments, garlands and bows. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning, opening storage boxes to unwrap holiday treasures from the 30 years I've been keeping my own house, plus the new stuff I'd forgotten about and a few cherished items from my late mother's collection.

Later that night, after attending a friend's birthday lu'au, we came home to find the tree splayed on the floor with a big puddle of water seeping under the baseboards and tiny bits of glass ornaments scattered across the room.

My husband, who can be a bit of a Grinch with all my fussing and the mess, didn't say anything, but I knew he was seething at me for getting such a monster tree. I tried to shift blame to the pets, who regularly tear around the house after each other.

We resurrected the tree, securing it with bungees. A Sunday afternoon was spent redecorating. Did I mention the tree looks glorious?

And to think I almost bought a fake one. Fresh trees cost so much and dry out so fast, and some of the artificial trees they're making now look really good. But the kids wouldn't have it, and I caved to tradition and the fragrance of fresh pine.

A new house also means we're on a pretty tight budget, and although we looked at pool tables, it's not happening this year. Maybe next Christmas. I know just the place for it.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.