The Jersey Mama: O Christmas Tree

Every year we get a live Christmas tree. We know that it would be more financially responsible to purchase a fake one and use it for several years, but we like real ones. Besides, a real one will eventually return back to the earth from whence it came, so that makes it the greener choice, right? Gotta justify that decision somehow ...

We decided that we would go after church last Sunday. The forecast called for snow flurries -- no big deal, and the girls would get a big kick out of tree hunting in the snow (and by tree hunting, I mean searching through the stacks of them at Lowe's. We've tried to do our part supporting local businesses in the past, but let's face it -- those trees are way more expensive.) The flurries started during the morning service. Soon it became apparent that it was more than just flurries. I asked Eric, "Are you sure you want to do this?" We hadn't told the girls so they wouldn't be disappointed, and he was the one who would have to haul the tree around and tie it to the top of the van. He said he still wanted to, so off we went after the service. The roads weren't too bad. We stopped for something to eat, which was probably a mistake because while we were eating the snow came down fast and furious. By the time we left there was considerably more on the ground. Eric still wanted to go, though, so we continued on to Lowe's.

At Lowe's I stood under an overhang out of the snow and pointed at different trees which Eric then stood up and shook off and spun around for my approval. We found one we liked pretty quickly -- I didn't want to be TOO picky, but then again I didn't want to be stuck with a Charlie Brown tree. Meanwhile the girls ran around in the snow while I repeatedly told Peabody to stop eating it.

Eric tied it to the top of the van and we slowly made our way home. By then the roads were pretty bad, and there were a lot of people out, but we didn't see many cars in ditches. Our little town has one hill right through the center of it, and we saw people stuck going up and going down the other side. The van did great, though! We made it safely home with no trouble, praise the Lord.

The snow-covered tree went into the garage, though after a while I realized that it was just as cold in the garage as outside so it would never dry off. So Eric brought it into the laundry room to drip-dry.

Not the first time we've had a tree in our laundry room! Mama Dog was NOT happy with that. She doesn't like it when things are strange or out of place. There were bins of Christmas decorations stacked up in the living room, and the next day we rearranged in order to set up the tree in front of the window, and she really did not like that at.all. She moped around for a couple of days until she got used to it. Weirdo dog.

On Monday night we put the lights on in what had to be the quickest light-stringing-experience ever. I think it literally took us less than ten minutes which was surely a record. On Tuesday night we watched a classic Christmas movie and drank egg nog while I sat on the couch and handed out ornaments for the girls to hang on the tree. That meant that multiple ornaments ended up on same branches, and hardly anything made it to the top, but overall they did a pretty good job and after they went to bed we cleaned it up a little.