Oh, Christmas Tree. A REAL One!

Husband and I have been married for 14 years. Two weeks after we got married, we hit the Black Friday special at Walmart (the one and only time I’ve ever shopped Black Friday) and bought a giant (fake) Christmas tree. We used that tree every year, even though it was giant at the bottom. And it wouldn’t fit in some of the places we lived, so we smashed it up against the wall and only put the front branches on. Because we’re classy like that.

But we got rid of the giant tree right before we moved from Georgia. I couldn’t lug it around any more, to only put 2/3 of it together most years. Plus, I’ve wanted a skinny tree for a long time, and this seemed the perfect way to get one.

When we packed up storage stuff for our stay in the townhouse, we knew we’d be here over Christmas. We also knew we’d be sparse with the Christmas decorations because we weren’t about to dig through storage to find them. And I had no idea what we’d do about a tree. But Husband did.

Personally, I think he’s been planning for this very scenario for the past 14 years.

You see, Husband grew up with a real tree every year. You know, the kind you go cut down or buy at a lot. The kind that you feel the need to check for a squirrel if you’ve ever watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. The kind that drops needles all over the floor. The kind that we all may or may not be allergic to.

But a real tree, we have.

Husband and Caedmon went to pick our tree.

Caedmon picked it out. And he was quite attached to the tree stand.

So we set the tree up in the living room. Normally, we have no less than 500 lights on our tree. But when we went to storage to dig out a few things, all I could reach was 200 lights. Caedmon and I made a paper chain for the tree, and we put it up before we got ready to finish decorating.

I couldn’t reach our big box of ornaments, but I was able to get to the tub that had the kids’ ornaments and a few others in it. So our tree is decorated with mostly their ornaments. I laid them out on a table and we went to town!

Mom gets us new ornaments each year. Here’s Caedmon’s – R2D2.

Honor got a sparkly crown. She tried to put it on, and I could not get her to hold still for a picture, so I had to take a shot of it hanging on the tree.

We also buy the kids ornaments every year. Caedmon got Spider-man.

And Honor got a Barbie Ballerina. Again, she wouldn’t be still, so I just took a picture of it hanging on the tree.

We finally got the tree decorated.

And my biggest challenge is keeping Honor out of it.

But here it is, in all its glory. Caedmon and I still need to make a topper for it. But I do like it. Needles and all.