So Thanksgiving Day went off without a hitch and we even got our Christmas Card pictures taken, designed and ordered! Yes, the Hubster and I were on the Holiday ball, so to speak. Thanksgiving night we drank hot chocolate and watched our favorite Christmas movie-- "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"-- our first steps in starting our holiday off right.
We had decided to get the tree on Saturday. We went to Spanky's near the Johnston Memorial Hospital which was the same place we went last year (see last year's post about our monster tree) and had very little trouble deciding on a nice 8 a half to 9 foot tree. He paid for it, they loaded it up and we were off to the house to begin the decorating.
Everything was as close to perfect as it was going to get. The Hubster was going to grill steak and string the lights-- he was even going to help get the boxes and boxes and boxes of ornaments and decorations from storage upstairs! It was just great.
Most years, or at least since we've been married, the Christmas tree has caused us much trouble-- yelling, screaming, cussing, fussing-- you name it, we've either done or said it all while trying to get the damned tree to work.
Things were going too easy and neither one of us wanted to admit it.
Saturday night we started on the task before us.
We got the white tree down from the storage room upstairs.
We got the storage bins with all the decorations down from the storage room upstairs.
The Hubster started stringing lights. And it was good. No strands burned out... no bulbs shorted out. It was good. And we never argued about anything, not one little bit!
We noticed that the tree was a little bit off center-- it was leaning just a little bit. But I started my job-- the decorating... because, it is a tree-- a live-honest-to-goodness-not-perfect-tree! So it might lean a little bit. Big deal!
The first attempt tree decorations-- about 10 minutes into decorating...
Looking back, maybe we should have laid off the Crown and Coke... maybe we should have been a little bit more careful in our decorating. Maybe I shouldn't just focus on the front side of the tree. But in the moment, I was fearless, happy, and carefree. What's the worst that could happen?
I remember going to bed so happy Saturday night. I had successfully decorated our tree and it looked good. My last thought, however, as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep was, "Tomorrow I'll move that picture frame so it isn't even with the other picture frame."
Sunday morning rolled around. I was happy. The tree was finished and all was good-- I made myself some cereal and told the Hubster that that afternoon I'd work on the white tree and then we could probably go to the Hanging of the Green's ceremony our church put on each year.
I was making my way to our bedroom to change out of my pj's and into real clothing when I stopped to adjust the ornament my grandmother gave us for Christmas last year. I took it off the tree and placed it on the table near where I was standing. I remembered my thought about the picture frame... I reached to move it and....
BAM!
The tree, fully decorated went tumbling down. The sound of broken glass and limbs hitting the hardwood floor interrupted my scream. We righted the tree. Thankfully, my Radko ornaments were safe-- all but one... my favorite one. We, in a daze quickly pulled off the ornaments, pulled up the soaking wet rug and swept up the mess.
Tears wouldn't come.
Yelling wouldn't come.
We knew we were at fault. We should have paid more attention to the leaning tree the night before. In the confusion I told the Hubster-- "Next year we're getting a fake tree!" and he retorted, "Never! We are no quitters!"
So, Sunday night, almost in a panic, instead of attending our church service, re-hung our own Greens. My sister and her soon-to-be-husband came over and argued about furniture. I had her re-work the tree topper. Strangely I think the tree looks much better now...
We are the Griswold's...
Merry Christmas
