Oh Tannenbaum!

We put up our tree the other day. Y’know, that’s something I always do the day after Thanksgiving. I like to put on a Christmas CD and get the tree put together, then string up the lights and put on all the ornaments, etc. The girls are able to help me actually put the tree together now. I do the lights by myself, as that’s something I’m a little picky about. But then they do the ornaments with me. This year, we were putting the tree together in a different spot than usual—Jim said last year the tree blocked his view of the TV. Okay, so we moved it over behind the recliner, closer to the dining room table. As we were putting it together, Lindsay was struggling with a branch. She was trying to force it in, and I said, “Honey, if it doesn’t slide right in, you have it at the wrong angle.” This is what I’ve been telling them, over and over. Anyway… SNAP! She pushed the whole tree to one side, forcing that branch, and the base on that side of the tree broke. I said, “Lindsay, dangit! You forced it! Now look what happened!” (Nice parenting, Trace.) I tried tilting the tree back a bit, so I could see the damage to the base, and… SNAP! I broke the opposite side of the base. So now the tree was wobbly on both sides, instead of just leaning to one side. I had the girls continue with the tree, while I went to tell Jim about it. He looked at it and said, “It’s fine. It’ll be fine for now. Maybe we can get a new tree after Christmas, when they go on sale. It IS nine years old, y’know. We’ve gotten a lot of use out of it.” So okay, we continued on our decorating journey. I’d gotten some new ornaments to put on there--our old bulbs were even older than the tree. Sunday morning, Jim was up before the rest of us, and he moved the tree a bit because it was crowding his spot by the dining room table. When he moved it, he accidentally knocked off one of my new ornaments, breaking it. (Josie was sure to tell me right away when I woke up! Tee! Hee!) Later, he went to the Y for a workout. The girls and Dono were watching TV, and I was downstairs working on laundry, when… CRASH! JINGLE! SMASH!!! I ran upstairs, and all three kids were staring at the tree with their jaws on the floor. The tree was lying on my dining room table! It had to have been due to Jim moving it earlier in the day. I plucked up all the bits and pieces of my new ornaments off the table and floor (after sending my barefoot children—barefoot in December?!?—downstairs), and I took the rest of the ornaments and lights off the tree. I was just finishing taking it all apart (no tears this whole time, but they were always threatening) when Jim finally got home from his workout. Josie goes, “Look what Mom did.” And I just about screamed at her, “You’ll recall, I was DOWNSTAIRS when this happened!!! It just FELL on its OWN!!!” She’s stammering, “Oh, oh yeah, I uh, I forgot.” Continuing on with my lovely parenting skills, I said through clenched teeth, “You just remember that YOU didn’t do it, right?” Geez, I’m a peach. Well, at this point, I got the kids lunch, grabbed a quick lunch myself, looked online and found the cheapest base at Lowe’s, and I told Jim about it. I went with my neighbor to Anne’s class at the Y, planning on running out with Jim when I got home, to buy the new base. When I returned home—much less stressed after a strenuous work out—I walked in the house to hear Jim say, “Oh, hi, how’s it going?” Mr. Nonchalant. There, by the window, where it BELONGS (blocking the TV or not), was my tree, all put back together, standing in a new base! The decorations weren’t up yet, as Jim a) knew I’d rather do that or supervise, at least, myself, and b) he didn’t have time to get them up before I got home (not to mention c) he doesn’t really like doing that stuff). What a great guy!!!