My husband loves me.  I know this because he told me as much the other day right before he told me I couldn’t do something.

I know, right? I just looked at him for a moment then laughed.

Let me just say, though, that I know where he was coming from. I have six Christmas trees in storage. But none of them are in Brookhaven, and that left us without a tree in our little apartment at The Inez.

So the other day we drove past St. Andrew’s Thrift Store and I spotted a tree outside for sale. It was a beauty, probably 6 feet with lights on it and as big around as Ol’ St. Nick himself.

I got all giddy and turned to Brett. That’s when he delivered his “I love you, but you’re not buying that tree” speech.

We went about our business and then stopped in the thrift store on our way home. (One of the benefits of living at Inez is being next door to a thrift store.)

Brett didn’t find any new “old” books so he headed upstairs.

I asked the sales lady how much the tree cost.

“Fifteen dollars,” she said.

I cringed. I’d expected her to say $50 or more. I mean, really, it was like a $200 tree that I’d seen at Lowe’s. It would have been easy to tell her no.

I paused, hearing Brett’s words in my head. “You’re not buying that tree.”

“That’s a good price, but I kind of promised my husband I wouldn’t buy the tree,” I told her.

“If you’ll take it,” the cashier said, “I’ll give it to you. I just don’t have room for it.”

Neither did I, but it looks very pretty in our living room.

I didn’t buy the tree, Brett. Happy?

Donna Campbell is managing editor of The Daily Leader. She can be reached at donna.campbell@dailyleader.com.