Since we were running out of time and trees are so reasonable (read: cheap) at one of our local stores, we decided to hold off on cutting a tree down again this year and get a tree from Menard's. (We got a tree from here last year and it was absolutely perfect!) Kate and I didn't even join Brian on the excursion. He went all by his lonesome and picked out a tree. (In hindsight, we probably should've come along to help, but life has been nothing short of chaotic recently and time is very valuable these days. It was something that we determined Brian could handle while we took care of other business at the casa. Little did we know...we should've come along.)
Brian called us from his way home from Menard's with a tree tied to the top of his car. He explained that he had secured the tree so tight and perfectly to the top of his car, but there was one problem: he forgot to leave himself a way to get back into the car. He literally tied himself out of the car. So he had to cut the passengers side open and crawl into the driver's seat, resecure the tree, and drive home. This was the first problem. He made no guarantees that he would arrive with a tree.
Fortunately, he did arrive with a tree. He called us when he was pulling into the driveway and asked us to bring some scissors out so that we could cut him out of his car. He and the tree arrived safe and sound, but the tree ended up diagonal on top of his car!
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| Silly Daddy, just waiting to be cut loose! |
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| Caddywhompus tree! |
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| Tom cuts Brian out of the car! |
Since Tom and Mary were visiting, Tom helped Brian with the tree while the girls stayed warm in the house. Brian and Tom placed the tree holder on while they were outside - seemingly placing it on while making sure the tree was straight. This was the second problem. You can put a tree stand on a tree and make it straight when the trunk that has been cut is straight. When the trunk has not been cut straight, lining up the tree stand will not guarantee a straight tree. We ended up with the leaning tower of treesa in the house.
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| The girls staying warm in the house and watching from the window! |
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| Um, definitely not straight... |
When Bri and Tom realized their silly oversight, they tried and tried to straighten the tree and did the best that they could. Until, welcome the third problem, they realized that there was a slight bend in the upper third of the tree, making it nearly impossible to straighten this tree. We made do with what we had and accepted the fact that our tree would have a slight lean this year.
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| Kate watches, wondering what on Earth Daddy and Papaw are doing and why we have a tree in our house! |
A few days after we let the tree settle, we started decorating it. But the branches were so flimsy that you really had to put the ornament on far to help it stay. In addition, it was it was so prickly that putting the ornaments on was nearly unbearable! Problem numbers four and five. We did what we could to decorate, but we held off on a lot of ornaments because their loops were too small or they were too heavy.
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| The tree. |
I can't say that we love our tree this year. The decor is nice and it's wonderful to have a tree and Christmas lights around the house. It adds so much for the holiday season, but this prickly tree with a slight bend is not going to be staying long after Christmas...
...Nor are the ornaments on the bottom third of the tree. They are a perfect height for Kate's exploring hands!
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