Why, every year, does there have to be some major drama around Christmas tree purchasing and set up? I cope with life by really having low expectations because if your expectations start low, then usually things turn out much better and I am happy. So it is not like I expect us to be singing carols, find a perfect tree for 1/2 the going price and the people offer to follow us home and set it up for us. I would like one year without the drama.
Some past years:
--The first year we purchased a tree, dentist husband and I got into a huge fight because I actually wanted a tree. Toothsome #1 was only baby and in Dentist husband's logic, and since toothsome #1 wouldn't remember his first Christmas, why should we bother? We did end up with a $16 tree from the local grocery store and a very cheap $3 stand.
--Another year we decided to go out to dinner first. We couldn't decide on a restaurant and finally with kids crying for food, we stopped at an Arby's in a really bad section of SLC. We ate cold Arby's Roast Beef sandwiches surrounded by really scary looking people.
--Last year, after purchasing the tree, we could not get it to fit on our stand. Poor dentist husband was outside in the snow for over 2 hours reworking and reworking the tree and stand. I finally had to put the kids to bed with promises that they could see the tree set up in the morning.
So, this year, they put in a Home Depot very close to our house and we thought, this might be the year that things would go smoothly. Not so. Being a bad mom, I left the kids coats at home and we took turns running from the warm store to the very cold lot and coming in and reporting which trees we liked. Once we all agreed on a tree, for some reason, we picked out a very heavy tree and it took two workers, plus my husband to load it on top of our mini van. Once home, we discovered it was too heavy for the stand. So, my husband left the tree home and went back to Home Depot. $42 later, we have a very nice tree stand that holds 4 gallons of water. An hour later, it was in place after multiple reposition efforts all the while trying to keep toothsome #4 from interfering and I had actually filled the whole thing with water. Yes, it took me an hour to drizzle water into the very small opening. Again, it was too late to decorate, so we will do that today after school. That said, the wonderful fresh tree smell I woke up to this morning, made purchasing a fresh tree worth it.
2 comments:
I love the fresh smell of pine.
We almost (and still might) attempt to go get us a tree--the kind you cut down yourself. I thought better when I remembered we have two very small children and that the two of them combined with cold temps, long drives, and saws probably would not be the best idea. But it sounds on par with going to The Home Depot. I can't even go near the one by us without shuddering. (The ones in Utah seem to be a little better.)
These are all very similar to the reasons why we finally went with a fake tree. I'm glad you finally got one, though.
Post a Comment