Two years ago Isaac took out our tree, read funny story here. Last year we decided to save the tree, since money was tight and Matt duck taped the base like crazy. It held for the season, but had a sever lean. This year I swore the tree wasn’t going to make the move with us. It’s an old tree, Matt’s parents from the 80’s, it had server two families very well. I thought it had done its job and wasn’t going to pack it. Matt however knew that money would be tight again this year, so packed it anyways. He went out and bought a new stand and set up while I was a church yesterday and he was home with sick kids.
I didn’t always hate the Christmas tree, I used to love it. As a child I always loved decorating the tree and looking at it.
I loved starting my own tree with Matt, love watching the kids hang up their own ornaments.
I love seeing my children's eyes light up as the tree takes form.
But this morning, while we were all warm and snuggly in bed, Matt and I were woken up to the sound of the tree crashing. Nothing like that to get you out of bed. Apparently Caleb thought it would be funny to hide Isaac’s favorite stuffed dog and Adam’s favorite bear IN THE TREE. And the little boys, of course, had to rescue their animals.
I thought I had the tree instructions covered. The rules were simple,
- no touching the tree once we had all ornaments put on it,
- no jumping into the tree,
- no climbing the tree,
- no moving the tree
- No one let Gracie into the tree room without an adult.
Caleb thought since he actually wasn’t touching the tree, (the animals were) he was safe, that kid kills me.
The worst part about the tree falling over is that every time the tree crashes, ornaments break. This morning two ornaments bit the dust, one that had been on my parents tree since they got married, one that had been on Matt’s and my tree since we were married. I cried, and screamed and swore to the boys if they touched the tree again it was going down for the rest of the holiday and would not EVER be put up again.
Who ever thought that it would be a good idea to put a tree up in the house and decorate it with glass ornaments (most of ours have gone to plastic now) didn’t have kids, or at least didn’t have 4 boys. I have faith that someday, the tree will stay standing all season long, and I know I’ll probably laugh about this one day, but today I’m not laughing, the wound is too fresh.