Wow things are getting busy around here and the Christmas happenings haven't even begun yet!
The Christmas tree. My hubby and I have so many fond memories of Christmas trees. The go right back to when we were still dating.
That memory includes two great roomates and us, our search for the perfect tree, just before closing. How we started to get discouraged when the first store didn't have one. We tried to be creative, and possibly plot not so legal options (Home Depot had some nice ones in the parking lot). Then finally getting to the White Rose store 5 minutes before it closed to get that tree, wrapping it in a shower curtain, strapping it to the roof of the hubby's cavalier and then driving back into downtown Ottawa on the 417! Oh what fun!
Other memories include our first two Christmas trees after we got married. Those were both selected out of the bush at my hubby's family camp. The first year, the tree was beautiful! Nice and full, only one flat side. This wasn't a problem. That side got shoved into our tiny living room and wasn't decorated. Nevermind the tree took up about half of the living room! It was still quite beautiful when we decorated it. The second year, before moving up north and buying our trees, we had the perfect example of the Charlie Brown tree. In its natural habitat, it looked beautiful! Then when we got it home, it was slightly sparse. It was so crooked we had to tie it to the wall to make it stand. Then we had to decorate it in such a way that you wouldn't notice the lack of branches, or at least try!
I could continue with the history of the Christmas tree and why we keep this symbol as part of our traditions. That would involve a google search, then cross referencing, then reporting. Anyone can do that if you just open up a Google window (I still prefer Google as a search engine).
I will instead talk about our newest Christmas tree memory from this year.
We bought a beautiful Century home. It's like the ones you would see in the Hallmark Christmas movies, all warm and full of family. We have a beautiful "bay" window in the front. Perfect location for the tree! We also have 10 ft ceilings. My hubby wanted a BIG tree. One that would fit the space in the windows. One that would touch the ceiling. He wanted this tree to be the nicest we've ever had as this Christmas is our first back home, and our first to celebrate with family again.
So we went to Canadian tire and bought a big tree. It was gorgeous. The needles were perfect. It was shaped beautifully. It looked like a dream.
We shipped our heavy duty tree stand with us from Alberta. It is one that has a thing to screw onto the bottom to help keep the tree centred in the stand, then tighten with screws. We got the tree into the stand and set up. Then we left it overnight to "fall" and planned to decorate it the next night.
We set the tree up on Sunday and decorated it Monday night. It was fun decorating with our 3 year old. Kenny and Dolly serenaded us while Lu helped us find the perfect location for everything. She wanted to put the angel on top, so her and Daddy did that. (Needed a ladder, so I didn't watch). When all was done, Lu found the hidden pickle and the 3 mice. It was a fun family memory to be cherished!
Tuesday, she was overtired. I was getting short with her. Too many late nights in a row and too much excitement. So I put her to bed for a rest. (She stopped naps when she would stay up until 11:00 pm every night because she wasn't tired...) I went upstairs to talk with her and while in her room (right above the living room) we heard a big slithering sound and then a "smash".
We ran downstairs to find the tree, once beautiful, lying across the floor. The dog was blamed. Poor thing. She didn't do it. She didn't even react to the falling of the tree. With my 6 month pregnant body I pushed the tree up against the bay window, then we cleaned up the glass on the floor and wanted to cry while doing it. Stupid tree!
Since we've tethered the tree to the walls. The screws in the stand got bent in the collision to the floor. All of the water (and of course this had to happen right after I gave the tree 4 litres of water), and broken glass was cleaned up and the broken ornaments were repaired.
I was frustrated with the tree, so we waited until the following Sunday to re-decorate the tree. Now it is looking beautiful and we have a new family memory to cherish about a Christmas tree.
Next year, we're getting an artificial tree.
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