60 Marbles
It’s the Christmas season marbles so last night my kids and I went to pick out our first Christmas tree without Ex-man. I had to consider the logistics as Ex-man had a trailer that could fit a few trees. My car doesn’t have a roof rack, but after asking around, I decided that it would work out just fine. I was told to tie the tree down with rope but I opted for bungee cords - less skill-testing.
I asked my kids where they’d like to go for the tree. They told me that their Dad had broken tradition and bought his tree from a new place and so they really wanted to go to the store where we always go – IKEA.
They were in good spirits when we got there. They love to run around the lot and play hide and seek in the trees. When we finally all agreed on one, we took the bound tree and hoisted it on top of a blanket on the roof of our car (good thing my eldest son has muscles). The bungee cords worked like a charm and we managed to transport the tree safely over hills and highways back to our home.
Thankfully, the tree trunk had a clean, straight cut - no sawing required. We carried the bound tree into the house and I secured it in the tree stand before I cut the cords. The moment of truth... It unraveled into a perfect, symmetrical, aromatic Christmas tree. Yippee!
After I did a little pruning and put on the lights, it was time for the kids to join in. With Charlie Brown tunes in the background, we drank eggnog and decorated the Christmas tree, reminiscing about some of their old hand-made decorations. When we were almost finished, I decided to prune the tree a bit more because it was taking over the TV screen. My intuition kicked in and said, “Be careful not to cut the-” but ZAP, The tree went dark.
Why couldn’t it just be easy? I had been working all day to make extra cash for Christmas. The darkened tree was disheartening. The tree was completely decorated and now I’d have to disassemble it?
It took me a few minutes to keep it together. I took a breath, looked at the time and quickly decided to go to the store before it closed to pick up some more lights. When I returned, the kids had taken the ornaments off and were ready to do it all over again. And there it was, another bit of family folklore, “Do you remember the year we got to decorate the Christmas tree twice because Mom zapped the lights?”
I asked my kids where they’d like to go for the tree. They told me that their Dad had broken tradition and bought his tree from a new place and so they really wanted to go to the store where we always go – IKEA.
They were in good spirits when we got there. They love to run around the lot and play hide and seek in the trees. When we finally all agreed on one, we took the bound tree and hoisted it on top of a blanket on the roof of our car (good thing my eldest son has muscles). The bungee cords worked like a charm and we managed to transport the tree safely over hills and highways back to our home.
Thankfully, the tree trunk had a clean, straight cut - no sawing required. We carried the bound tree into the house and I secured it in the tree stand before I cut the cords. The moment of truth... It unraveled into a perfect, symmetrical, aromatic Christmas tree. Yippee!
After I did a little pruning and put on the lights, it was time for the kids to join in. With Charlie Brown tunes in the background, we drank eggnog and decorated the Christmas tree, reminiscing about some of their old hand-made decorations. When we were almost finished, I decided to prune the tree a bit more because it was taking over the TV screen. My intuition kicked in and said, “Be careful not to cut the-” but ZAP, The tree went dark.
Why couldn’t it just be easy? I had been working all day to make extra cash for Christmas. The darkened tree was disheartening. The tree was completely decorated and now I’d have to disassemble it?
It took me a few minutes to keep it together. I took a breath, looked at the time and quickly decided to go to the store before it closed to pick up some more lights. When I returned, the kids had taken the ornaments off and were ready to do it all over again. And there it was, another bit of family folklore, “Do you remember the year we got to decorate the Christmas tree twice because Mom zapped the lights?”
Think about your challenging moments. Will they be a great story some day?
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