A Christmas Tree

We set out with the thought of cutting down our own Christmas Tree this year for the first time in a few years. After listening to Max wine upon being put in the baby ergo and demand to be held, we decided to go with a pre-cut tree at the front of the farm. David and I were looking around and trying to eye up an appropriate tree. It was a bit of a stretch because our size goal was around 7 to 9 feet. The selection was either 5 to 6 foot trees or 12 to 14 foot (or even higher trees). When David first stood up one of the big trees to look at, Ellie got so excited about it's size. We both knew it was a bit big and may prove challenging; I was worried about getting it into the stand; David was worried about it fitting in the house.

I proceeded to look through the smaller trees desperately trying to identify something in the medium price range. Ellie pronouced a bit of a fit, "I do NOT want a little tree. I WANT THE BIG TREE Daddy already picked up!"

I could not help but laugh as she sounded just like me as a child. I remember fits about the size of the tree many years. I just looked at Ellie and said, "You are just like your mother."

After much deliberation, we agreed to the very large nearly 13 or 14 foot tree, with the plan to cut off the bottom foot and a half where the trunk looked too big and fat for our stand. Then we purchased it and brought it home.

Upon getting it home is where the real struggle started. David and I spent over an hour trying to get it in the stand. The poor thing was butchered and ended up loosing nearly another 2 feet before properly standing in the tree stand. During this time both kids hit tears because they couldn't help decorate the tree. Max even pulled out his tools and watched to help Daddy with cutting the tree and getting it "fixed." He's sweet, but it was dangerous and eventually I ban them from the room.

Nearly 2 hours after we got home, dinner done in shifts, Ellie and I finally put the lights on. She was a great helper. Of course, Max wanted to help too, and it's not really a three man job, but we tried to include him best we could.

Lights strung with minimal drama, it was time for Daddy to put the angle on top. That too went down without much drama, thanks to his willingness to just get the ladder and get it done. Then, it was on to decorating.

Ellie and Max were both psyched to get to this part. Turn out, Ellie was off to the races and did a pretty good job this year. Previous years had been hard for her. Poor Max, he couldn't get the hooks to work in his little finger and was too frustrated to allow me to help. He put two ornaments on the tree (and by he, I mean with my help over a 15 minute period) before finally ending the drama. We decided to do bath and bed. Then Ellie sneaked back down and played elf with Mommy to help me finish the job. Ellie was a trooper. Once she understood that if she wined another syllable she was going to bed, we had a peaceful 30 minutes of tree decorating. She really did a great job!

I was so tired at the end of the night that I didn't finish the final trimmings. Those still need to go on, probably not until tonight. But we do have a standing, fresh, beautiful tree 17 days before Christmas, which to me, is the perfect lead time!