Author: Rebecca Cuneo Keenan

Extra big thanks to Honda for sponsoring this adventure.

We always get a real tree and we always get it home by carrying it from a nearby parking lot in our arms. And by “we” and “our arms,” I clearly mean Ed. I’m just there for moral support and to helpfully call out things like, “Are you okay?” and, “Watch out for the curb!”

When I found out I was going to get to try out a Honda Odyssey for a week in December, though, I knew this year would be different. That’s right $20 Ikea Christmas tree with the $20 off coupon to be used in January, we were coming for you!

The three kids easily fit in the second row which is SO NICE because it frees up the third row for more passengers or extra cargo, ie. $20 Ikea Christmas trees. It is also nice because there’s nothing worse than a kid whining at you from the third row and not being able to reach back to shut them up, er, I mean, lovingly hand them what they need.

Before I tell you about the Ikea midnight madness sale that I had no idea was happening and because of which I used up all my will power for the year resisting a half-price fridge that we could totally have fit in the minivan (maybe, I’m not sure), let me tell you about the drive there. It was amazing! While I always appreciate the extra space that a bigger vehicle provides, I usually kind of hate driving them. The Odyssey, however, handles super easily and it didn’t feel like I was driving some giant monster vehicle.

So we get to Ikea and the midnight madness sale and end up with two questionable shimmery/sheer curtains that will maybe one day go into the girls room but avoid walking out with a fridge we don’t need, so win. We then go to check out the trees which are all bound up and the same price no matter their size which you can’t tell anyway because they’re bound up. Did I mention that they’re bound? I’m thinking that $20 usually gets you a pretty skimpy little tree at most places so I eyeball a tree that looks a little fatter than the others and say that’s the one. When we’re carting it off to the van, the Ikea guy tells us, “That’s the biggest tree I’ve seen all year and I’ve seen over 8000 of them.” I figure he’s trying to impress the kids.

We fold down the third row of seats, easy peasy, and the tree fits nicely in the back.

We finally lugged the tree inside and it weighed, like, a million pounds. We fit it into the tree stand and started cutting off the binding. Oh my. That is one big tree. It still needed to settle before we could fully appreciate the insanity of it, but I knew right away that we could kiss our dining room table goodbye for the next few weeks. When Ed measured it the next day, it was seven feet tall and EIGHT FEET WIDE. Our house is only about fifteen feet wide. Oops.

But onto the highlight of this story. As you may have heard, the Touring model of the new Odyssey comes equipped with a built in vacuum cleaner. Cue the singing angels; it is Christmas, after all. I once bought a crappy little hand vac for the dust bunnies on the stairs and it made my year. Imagine what I could do with a vacuum in my car?! Actually, we don’t have to imagine, because Christmas tree needles. Yikes.

I could have cried for joy, you guys. The clean up was so easy. It literally took me less than five minutes to vacuum up the needles. I was tempted to try to reach the vacuum nozzle over to our actual car, but I thought better of it. (Who am I kidding? I totally would have except I was freezing.)

As for the tree. Well, it’s a presence.

This post was generously sponsored by Honda, but the opinions and images are my own. For more information, visit honda.ca/odyssey