Christmas Tree Saga

We thought we were getting a jump start on the season when we pulled out our Christmas tree this year, little did we know the journey ahead of us! It was all fun and games and the air was filled with excitement pulling our beloved tree out the box. Ollie could hardly contain himself and wanted to be there every step of the way helping Matt set it up.

First layer down, we turned the lights on and half of them were out! Matt fiddled with it for a while but we finally gave up and moved onto opening boxes full of other lights and decorations. Ollie had fun helping Matt test them out and even though the living room was covered in boxes we were having a good time!

But then it all stopped- the day was getting late and we were at a stand still both inside and out- and that was the beginning of my house being in utter chaos while we attempted to continue daily living around the boxes and partially built tree that only had one half lit layer down. For good measure we kept the lights on, i guess enjoying a few lights was better than nothing?

A few days later we made it to Home Depot. We briefly looked at getting a new tree but there was nothing there that even half compared to the one we have but we did find a gadget that helps you fix broken lights. It's really quite nifty! And at only $20 it seemed like a bargain compared to buying a new tree. Home again, Matt used the gadget on the first layer of our tree and to our amazement it worked! It sends an electric charge through the wires and somehow revives the whole strand, and when that didn't work it does a beeping sound as you run it along the wire until it finds the bad light. All patched up he added the second layer to our tree, which also had half of the lights out when we turned it on, but this time we didn't have the same amount of luck. After hours of working on it we finally gave into the fact that we weren't going to get all the lights on the second layer to light up. So there our tree sat, one more layer up and still half lit for days!

I started researching how much it was going to cost to replace it and I was dumb founded to find that first of all it was hard to get a 9' tree, no one seemed to carry them. And if they did they paled in comparison to what we already had. Our tree had 1500 lights on it and the few I found had 900 or less and the prices were getting outrageous- like in the neighborhood of $650. After days of researching I was defeated. Matt won and we decided to get a real tree this Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love real trees. I love the adventure of picking them out and fresh smell of an evergreen all throughout the house. But, the reality is we live in Arizona and by the time Christmas finally rolls around the thing is so dried up and dead that the branches are curling under and the ornaments are falling off! But what we were to do, at this point it seemed to be the only option.

On Monday night after work we all got dressed and ready to go to the Christmas tree lot, but by the time we got out of the house it was pretty late and we were all starving. Not wanting to spend the time to go get food we opted to stop at the McDonalds across the street from the tree lot for a quick bite to eat. BAD IDEA! We did the drive through and then sat in the tree lot gulping down our food, I don't know why I even tried it but the burger I got was cold and the patty was like a dried up brick with no flavor- totally disgusting. Matt's was no better. So there we sat, it was already late and we still had to go home to a tear down a half built, half lit tree in a living room full of boxes. I was already exhausted from the day and just couldn't will myself to get out of the warm car into the cold to pick out a tree knowing the amount of work it was going to cause me when we got home- life has been so busy I just wanted to go home and relax and forget about the tree! Matt was excited to pick one out though and I was so torn, I miss picking out a real tree and since this is a rare occasion that we are actually buying one I didn't want to let the opportunity pass, nor did I want to miss Ollie's first experience picking out a tree, but I just couldn't get out of the car into the cold nor could I imagine dragging our already tired children through it. So I decided to have Matt check it out first and if it was worth while I hoped that his report would give me the will to move...it did not. He was nice enough to get in the car and agree to give it a try again the next day but I could tell he was disappointed so I pulled myself out of the car to see if I could stand out in the cold and survive it. It wasn't comfortable but I would survive, however by that point he was already back in the car so we gave up and went home to put the boys to sleep and relax for the rest of what remained of the night.

Jed all packed up and ready to go and already asleep!

Tuesday we all got dressed up again, got an earlier start and it proved to be a great night! We started at Walmart- I couldn't believe the price of lights and I wasn't happy that some man that Matt was chumming it up with convinced him that LED lights were the way to go. It's not that I hate them, I just don't prefer them especially when I have other decorations right next to the tree that have the old warm lights on them. It's just a rule for me that you shouldn't mix LED and traditional lights, they clash. But Matt was convinced otherwise and at this point it was his show- didn't help that after the Walmart worker let us plug a strand into the wall to see what it looked like he commented to Matt that he was "the man right?" insinuating that he should get the final say on the matter. I was out numbered so we went home with 800 LED lights that cost us $100. I wasn't convinced that we had enough, especially knowing how many our old tree had but whatever- at this point I really didn't care what the tree ended up looking like the process of getting it up alone was wearing me out!

Next stop was the tree lot- for me this is where the fun began. From the moment we stepped out of the car Ollie was enchanted and I couldn't help but smile, I really was looking forward to this little moment in time knowing it would be a first and maybe a long long time before we would do it again. It took me back to every Christmas I had growing up, no matter how tight things were my parents always found a way for us to have a real Christmas tree and I am full of memories walking through tree lots having them pull out tree after tree so we could find the perfect one and all the joy and excitement surrounding those events. I remember driving in the car with windows down while a car full of kids screamed out Christmas carols for everyone outside to hear and I was anxious for the magic to begin.

As soon as we were inside it was like walking around an evergreen forest and Ollie could hardly contain himself! He loved running through the trees!

Ollie's first time on a tree lot

He wanted to touch them

So excited to share this adventure with him!

The boys

Baby Jed fast asleep

Racing through the forest!

Can't catch me!

All of the trees were so beautiful but once we started looking closer we would start ruling them out for one reason or another and soon we had looked at every tree in the lot and were onto our second or third look. We weren't in a hurry though and luckily they were nice and patient with us, it really wasn't that busy either so we got full service as we were escorted around.

In the end we ended up back at the very first tree that stood out to us, and we were just about to say it was the one when a tree two spots away caught our eye, not sure how we missed it before but it was definitely the perfect tree and we all celebrated finding it!

Our perfect tree!

Ollie was so excited!

See if you can touch the top!

One more try...

Didn't quite make it to the top...

But Ollie and Daddee had lots of fun trying!

And Mommee and Jed had fun watching

The tree lot folks got a kick out of Ollie, he helped me pick out a few accessories and talked their ears off...

Meanwhile the tree got trimmed and ready to go...

Ollie discovering the little trees- so cute!

Miniature tree forest

Brothers!

Ollie telling them about the Motorcycle Santa is going to bring him!

All loaded up

Matt finally got his tree :)

Baby Jed had fun too!

I think even if we replace our fake tree we are going to have to keep this tradition alive, even if it is just to pick a miniature tree for the boys to decorate- it was way too much fun and really made it feel like Christmas!