The good news is, we saved at least $35 bucks and it's a great ecology lesson for the kids to not cut down a tree simply to stick it in our living room for a couple of weeks. The bad news is, Eric has to stand pretty still until at least New Year's Eve, when we take him down. Of course, being the substitute Christmas Tree also means he's going to miss a week of school prior to Christmas break. Plus, we're not really sure what long term effect 110 volts in Christmas lights wrapped around his body might have. And the real stickler is Christmas morning when Eric has to look under himself for his gifts. But, so far he's being a real trooper about it and I think he's learning a great lesson about being thankful for what you have. Then again, this may come up in group therapy sometime later in life.