Time for hope and cheer....
Non-stop Christmas carols are playing in this house. Well, as non-stop as I can make it with a killjoy husband who can't stand Christmas carols. What kind of person can't stand Christmas carols?
The house is decorated and most of the presents are bought but apparently I have committed a cardinal sin this year. We don't have a tree. Well, that's not entirely true. We do have three mini trees but we don't have the big tree that one normally associates with Christmas. Why, you might ask? It's not as if we have anything against trees. In fact, we usually get one every single year.
So what is different about this year? Me. Having a job. Usually the men in the family go to get the tree. It's a tradition that started about 7 years ago. It has worked out rather well for me. I sit home, get out ornaments and lights and wait for them to come home with their prize. Most years it is a beautiful specimen smelling like the great outdoors. One year it was this...
Seriously. That.
I don't know if you have ever gone out into the wild to cut your own Christmas tree. As a child we did it a time or two. I don't think my husband ever did this as a child. So I told him the few "rules" (if you will) about choosing a tree in the wild.
1. Objects in nature appear smaller than they actually are.
2. Walk all around the tree MANY times to check for bare spots.
3. Objects in nature appear smaller than they actually are.
They cut down this tree feeling it was the PERFECT Christmas tree. At that point C stood it up next to the boys and realized it was about 30 foot tall. Perfect for the White House, maybe. Sadly, we live in a house with 8 foot ceilings. Oh well. They tie it to the snowmobile and drag it to the truck. Bring it home and cut most of it off and the beauty up above is what we were left with.
It was so fragile I couldn't hang 95% of my ornaments on it. Looking back, I seem to recall that we were only able to put one string of lights on it. And of course I told my boys that it was the most beautiful tree I had ever seen. I know karma is going to come back and bite me for that whopper.
Back to the point of why we do not have a tree this year and how it ties in to me having a job. I have been so busy trying to accomplish life on the weekends when I am home that I kept putting off nudging the boys out the door to go get the tree. Last night I realized that with only one week left until Christmas there really was little point in shelling out $50.00 for a tree that would only be up for about 7 days. I think the boys will survive since I told them they could each decorate their own mini tree in any fashion they desired.
With that out of the way I am now looking forward to only 5 more days of work and then I will have 2 full weeks off. I can't wait. This week will be filled with candy and cookie making and next weekend we have a Christmas program and a dinner to attend and then all of our responsibilities are fulfilled and we can snuggle in at home and enjoy each other.
I'm sure my tune will change after about 3 days of togetherness but for now the visions of familial bliss are dominant.
Feliz Navidad!
