The Christmas Tree Debacle

I wish I could sit down and write some sentimental post about our Christmas tree traditions this year, but I just can't. You see, it's been more or less of a debacle. Not terrible, just not easy.

It started last night when we went to get the tree. We picked out a beautiful 7 foot tree. When the Riverwood baseball player, (their team was sponsoring the lot), held it up, I said "Clay are you sure that's not too big?". And Clay said, "no it will be fine". And so we bought the tree. We got it home and you guessed it...too big. Not necessarily too tall, just way too wide. So I took Jack up for bedtime duty and Daddy stayed down in the family room to wrestle with the tree. And by the way, Jack was not at all puzzled as to why we had a tree in our home...hmm?? I thought he would at least raise an eyebrow. Upon returning to the family room after getting Jack down, I came into a forest of tree trimmings. Yes, wonderful Daddy had taken the initiative to trim the 'oh so big tree'. And boy, was our tree trimmed!...to about half of it's original size. A little uneven and lopsided, but it was in the designated Christmas tree spot. We turned the tree to the left, and then to the right, and then back to the left, and NOTHING we did made our tree look straight. Oh well, at least we have a tree and at least it fits, right? I think Clay was more bothered than me..and yes, that is possible!

Okay, so day two. Daddy had to go out of town overnight for business, so Jack and I were going to decorate the tree together. I couldn't wait any longer...this tree needed ornaments and fast! J and I started at 5 pm with the lights. At 5:15 pm and a third of the way up the tree, we realized we don't have enough lights. I'm telling you this tree is fat. So, shoes and jackets on and we are off to Target for more lights. Oops!...it's rush hour! Joy, joy, joy! Jack decides to throw "Lovey" in the way back of the car after about 6 minutes. The following 23 minute drive to Target involved my toddler screaming at the top of his lungs, "LOVEY, LOVEY". I tried to explain "that's why we don't throw Lovey". Do you think that mattered to him? So combine rush hour traffic with an irate 19 month old, and you guessed it...my blood pressure was sky high. We finally arrived to Target, opened the back door of the car, found Lovey, and Jack was all smiles again. We were in and out of Target in no time flat with two strings of lights.

Then it was dinner time. No time to cook, so Jack and I stopped at Moe's where he devoured a black bean and cheese quesadilla. I think I mentioned to him more than once to slow it down--did he listen? Of course not. We returned to the car just in time for Jack to throw up. Not a huge one, just a very stinky one!

Home and time for our bed time routine. It looks like I'm decorating the tree alone tonight.

Once Jack was safe and snug in his bed, I started on the tree. First the lights. Two strands later I was ready for the ornaments. Did I mention, the lights took me about 45 minutes and I was COVERED in tree sap at the completion? Apparently, doing a hack job on a Christmas tree causes it to secrete A LOT of sap. Yuck! I washed my fingers, hands and arms about 5 times (surgeon style at that). Okay, so now time for the ornaments. I was sooo over this tree at this point that there was very little joy in the ornaments, which is usually my favorite part.

Needless to say, there is no warm, touching story about choosing our Christmas tree and decorating it. No sentimental pictures of Jack, Clay, and I in front of the tree the night it got picked out, trimmed, and decorated. No just a picture of the "Cibula Christmas Tree" all by itself while Jack snoozes, Daddy is away, and Mommy's covered in tree sap.

I have decided though, that tomorrow will be the day we start enjoying our tree together and making new Christmas memories. And maybe we will even get a few pictures with it.