Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers
It was Christmas decorating time this weekend. Finally. We waited until the snowiest Saturday morning we could find to drive to the Christmas Tree stand… Husband (a.k.a. Mr. Thought) trudges outside to get the van all heated up, and ready for the great tree insertion, when it becomes alarmingly apparent that we need gas (because the van putters to a stop) The snow is piling up, the kids are anxious for the tree, and we wait as the van engine is turned over, turned over, turned over. E refuses to get his boots on, H is still playing, L wants to watch a show. I want to go get the tree, or at least to know we aren’t going, so I can adjust my day’s aspirations.
The van starts. Finally. Kids are loaded in and we slip and slide to the stand, where we pick the tree as quickly as we can, (“It’s freezing, this one is perfect!”) pay, and stuff the tree into the van. We realize we have blocked L’s access to her seat, so we insert her feet first as well.
The tree is up. Finally. H and E decide to water it using a funnel system that somehow requires a shelf, a giant bin, some sort of metal tube, a funnel, a few pitchers of water and my glass lemonade dispenser. Nothing like a little physics with your Christmas spirit. Ornament boxes need to be dragged in, and space needs to be cleared, and kids need lunch (every day!) and somehow the day goes by with messes to clean, work to do, and play dates. So tree decorating is put off until Sunday.
Decorating happens Sunday morning with all the favorite memory-inducing ornaments. Finally. Have you ever decorated a tree with a 4 year old? I am okay with odd ornament placing and I fix some things while his eyes are off of the tree. However, the hanging of the beaded garland is the last straw for E, as he feels he should be the one to climb the ladder and place the string around the tree…
And then it is bedtime. Finally. So, I do something that I wish I could do more often: I ignore the mess (and there is quite the mess of train tracks and crafts and have I mentioned that Mr. Thought is remodeling our kitchen?) and I turn out the living room lights, and just enjoy the quiet, and focus on the Christmas tree with lights. Finally.
On a Thought 
I have yet to get my tree up but I loved reading about your. I like the phot and the sense of a quiet moment.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you get your tree up soon – and that you have lots of quiet moments this holiday season. 🙂
I also love focusing on Christmas tree lights. Enjoy this season.
On another note, my husband and I were watching Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – a first time for him and we were laughing so hard. I am glad that your trip to get your tree wasn’t like theirs!
Oh, it was close to the Lampoon’s with the running out of gas… good thing the van was still in our driveway when that happened!
Thanks so much for visiting. I hope your Christmas is full of lights. 🙂
It is a wonderful thing when we ignore the mess.
I enjoyed reading your slice!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and reading my slice. 🙂 My goal is to ignore the mess more so I can fully engage in parenting. Maybe if I ignore it, it will magically clean itself! 🙂
I am hoping for the same thing! Wink!
That funnel system sounds complex. I’ve never had a tree, so I don’t know the first thing about taking care of them, but I’ve heard they’re a lot of work and require a whole heck of a lot of water. But they smell divine in the house, don’t they?
Happy holidays!
Leave it to my son to come up with complicated systems. 🙂 Yes – the tree is drinking lots of water, and smelling awesome!
Thanks so very much for stopping by to read my slice!
This is just what I love about writing our slices of life, the noticing and capturing in words. This year the Christmas tree from buying to decorating has been documented with details that might otherwise be forgotten. Lovely.
It’s so true, about slices…. I love that I have the memory written down now. 🙂 Thank you very much for stopping by!