For whatever reason, neither my local grocery store nor my local drugstore seems to have candy canes

[conuly]

I had to go into the city to Duane Reade. Got six boxes, put two on the tree, set aside one cane each for the kids. The rest of the canes will go up on Christmas Eve - I know what I'm up against here!

We actually just got the tree yesterday, and I don't even know but for the first time in my life, being near the tree made me itchy and my throat scratchy too. Thankfully that seems to have eased up today. Never had a reaction like that from a Christmas tree. Google suggests that it's probably not an allergy to the tree, but perhaps a sensitivity to mold or to the terpenes that make the tree smell good. Hopefully I'll never have a reaction like that again! I didn't even get to help decorate it, really.

Poll #23098 Christmas Trees

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 91

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What's your opinion on decorating?

View Answers

Less is more
30 (33.7%)

More is more
41 (46.1%)

No tree for me!
18 (20.2%)

Monocolor or two-color trees are

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Tasteful
30 (34.1%)

Boring
33 (37.5%)

No opinion, I just like clickies
25 (28.4%)

Tinsel?

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Yes!
17 (19.8%)

No - bad for the environment/pets
42 (48.8%)

No - a real hassle with fake trees
13 (15.1%)

No - because we don't have a tree
14 (16.3%)

Real tree or fake?

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Real
25 (29.4%)

Fake
46 (54.1%)

None
14 (16.5%)

If you don't celebrate Christmas, and you still put up a tree, should you call it a Christmas tree?

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Yes
13 (16.2%)

No, call it something else
5 (6.2%)

No, don't put up a tree at all
4 (5.0%)

Christmas stole that tree anyway
58 (72.5%)

Comments

[fred_mouse]

I do like it. The etymology is not actually what I expected -- it being a common word of my childhood, I had assumed that it was yet more quirky Aussie slang. I do wonder how a typically US slang word was common in our family!