Monday, December 9, 2013
The Christmas Tree
10:56 PM | 
Posted by
Balinda (RebelChick)
The tree.
The tree that becomes the center piece of so many family traditions during the holiday season. The tree that stresses out women all over the country to get up and decorated in time to actually enjoy it before the process of taking it down. The Christmas Tree.
The goal every year in my home is to get it up on Thanksgiving. My reasons for that is (1) my kiddos are 17 and 24 (2) I have to share them with my ex. (3) My 24 yo has his own life and is always so busy and most importantly (4) It makes me ever so happy to look at my tree later and remember what a wonderful day we had decorating it. No amount of money can buy that wonderous warm fuzzy feeling a Mama gets in her heart when it comes to moments like that with her babies (no matter how old they are!)
This year the family tree trimming has been an EPIC fail. Thus far, I have done nothing but work. I came very close to just buying a tiny table top tree so that after all the Christmas celebrations all that would be needed was to pop it on a shelf in the closet. I finally had a full day off Saturday and got the house back in order and caught up on the mundane chores that had piled up like washing linens and mopping floors. My DD was a huge help with the dusting, folding of laundry and vacuuming. A feeling of accomplishment filled my soul and at that point the tree came out of the closet. This meant that the living room needed to be rearranged to fit it and the treadmill kicked out and into the art room.
After almost giving myself a hernia dragging it out and cutting through the layers of duct tape holding it closed....I got to my prize. As I looked into that box, I was suddenly rethinking this idea but I had already came this far, so no turning back now. Grinch BEWARE!!!! The tree was going up!!!
Thank goodness I had my helper with me because I probably would have broken something on me or part of the tree putting the heavy middle piece in the post properly. Funny how 12 months makes you VERY forgetful of how much a pain in the "you know what" something can be to piece back together.
But alas, my helper got distracted by Country Dance 2 on the Wii.
And of course when not trying to jump in the box, Ghost thought he had a new hide out built special for him. The other 2 cats were waiting in the wings to see if there would be room for them.
Because women work smarter than men *wink* I had my DD help me label the correct order of the plugs on our prelit tree when we put it away last year. The first 2 years the husband was home to put it up AND watching him cuss and fuss for an hour really sucked the joy out of the day. *Disclaimer for the hubby's sake* The tree came with ZERO indication of the order of the plugs of which I thought was pretty darn stupid.
Victory is ours and despite all the internal whining, the tree was up and all the lights working in 15 minutes. *Girls rule! Boys drool!*
Today marks 16 days until Christmas and this is still how the tree looks. Limbs need to be fluffed and decorations still need to added but that will have to wait until Wednesday when it's not raining and I can get them out of our storage shed.
Despite all the whining, I do so love my tree and the way my family gathers around it during the Christmas season to just revel in the beauty of the twinkling lights and enjoy just taking time to be in each other's company with no distractions. For just a few moments it's like time stands still, so still it lets your heart and soul beat in tandem so that these perfect moments are so clearly defined and held forever precious. ♥
The tree that becomes the center piece of so many family traditions during the holiday season. The tree that stresses out women all over the country to get up and decorated in time to actually enjoy it before the process of taking it down. The Christmas Tree.
The goal every year in my home is to get it up on Thanksgiving. My reasons for that is (1) my kiddos are 17 and 24 (2) I have to share them with my ex. (3) My 24 yo has his own life and is always so busy and most importantly (4) It makes me ever so happy to look at my tree later and remember what a wonderful day we had decorating it. No amount of money can buy that wonderous warm fuzzy feeling a Mama gets in her heart when it comes to moments like that with her babies (no matter how old they are!)
This year the family tree trimming has been an EPIC fail. Thus far, I have done nothing but work. I came very close to just buying a tiny table top tree so that after all the Christmas celebrations all that would be needed was to pop it on a shelf in the closet. I finally had a full day off Saturday and got the house back in order and caught up on the mundane chores that had piled up like washing linens and mopping floors. My DD was a huge help with the dusting, folding of laundry and vacuuming. A feeling of accomplishment filled my soul and at that point the tree came out of the closet. This meant that the living room needed to be rearranged to fit it and the treadmill kicked out and into the art room.
After almost giving myself a hernia dragging it out and cutting through the layers of duct tape holding it closed....I got to my prize. As I looked into that box, I was suddenly rethinking this idea but I had already came this far, so no turning back now. Grinch BEWARE!!!! The tree was going up!!!
Thank goodness I had my helper with me because I probably would have broken something on me or part of the tree putting the heavy middle piece in the post properly. Funny how 12 months makes you VERY forgetful of how much a pain in the "you know what" something can be to piece back together.
But alas, my helper got distracted by Country Dance 2 on the Wii.
And of course when not trying to jump in the box, Ghost thought he had a new hide out built special for him. The other 2 cats were waiting in the wings to see if there would be room for them.
Because women work smarter than men *wink* I had my DD help me label the correct order of the plugs on our prelit tree when we put it away last year. The first 2 years the husband was home to put it up AND watching him cuss and fuss for an hour really sucked the joy out of the day. *Disclaimer for the hubby's sake* The tree came with ZERO indication of the order of the plugs of which I thought was pretty darn stupid.
Victory is ours and despite all the internal whining, the tree was up and all the lights working in 15 minutes. *Girls rule! Boys drool!*
Today marks 16 days until Christmas and this is still how the tree looks. Limbs need to be fluffed and decorations still need to added but that will have to wait until Wednesday when it's not raining and I can get them out of our storage shed.
Despite all the whining, I do so love my tree and the way my family gathers around it during the Christmas season to just revel in the beauty of the twinkling lights and enjoy just taking time to be in each other's company with no distractions. For just a few moments it's like time stands still, so still it lets your heart and soul beat in tandem so that these perfect moments are so clearly defined and held forever precious. ♥
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About Me
- Balinda (RebelChick)
- Just an everyday girl trying to find my way in the world to live life fiercely and passionately. I was a signature tagger for several years but art journaling has replaced that passion and it feeds my soul creativiely and spiritually. I also homeschool my DD, scrapbook, play around in photography, spoil my cats and drive my hubby insane on a daily basis. My faith in the Lord helps me juggle all these blessings. I keep this blog because it makes me happy. Sometimes I blog a lot and other times it collects a little dust. Thanks for visiting and being my friend.♥
1 comments:
my dear sweet Balinda, I am of course very close to tears almost all the time these days and reading your latest blog entry brought me almost to the brink. What a lovely lovely entry. I am so glad I came to check.
Prayers for your dear Dad and prayers for you and your family. I soooo know how much you are going through.
Lots of love,
Sabina.
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