Post Your Christmas Tree!

I didn't get lucky the other night. With the tree, that is.

http://journals.aol.com/bgilmore725/Wanderer/entries/821

It has been standing undecorated in my living room since Mickie and Elizabeth put it together for me Sunday afternoon. After church that day I had taken them out to lunch and to Target on a Christmas shopping mission to buy presents for their parents and each other, but not for themselves. We made it back to my house by 3:00, and with only an hour before they needed to be at MYF (youth group), they wanted to put up my tree.

Innocents! They had no idea how long it takes to put up a tree, even a little artificial seven footer like mine. I asked them if they had ever helped their parents put up a tree. "No, mom always did it while we were at school," came the reply. They really had not known the joy of decorating the tree. I had to let them help!

I put on a Christmas CD, then dragged the long box from the back bedroom where it has been sitting for over a week waiting for someone to take it out and set it up. The girls were so excited. I told them they would have to first sort the branches into their little piles by size, and I showed them the schematic of how it should go together, then I went into the kitchen to make us some hot chocolate. They were busily snapping on the branches, carefully matching up the different letter codes with the diagram, placing each in its appropriate hole. I joined in and soon we had all the branches in place. We stopped for some hot chocolate with marshmallows. It was nearly 3:30 when Mickie said lets put on the lights.

"My dear, you don't realize how long lights take," I told her. She insisted. She begged. She suggested we call the youth group leader to tell him they'd be a little late. Finally, I said, "There is no way we can put up lights in 15 minutes. You guys need to be at MYF in 30 minutes... no, I'll get Steve to help with the lights. Sorry."

They were not happy to leave the bare tree, naked as it were, in the middle ofthe living room floor, but they finally consented to go without the job finished. If we had had a good hour, I might have been able to do it, but with the lights still wound in their boxes, needing to be checked for usefulness, I didn't even want to get it started.

Steve has tomorrow off... maybe the two of us can get to the lights by tomorrow evening. Once the lights are on, the rest is a cinch. I enjoy hanging the ornaments... each comes with a special memory. When I packed them up after the holidays last year, I wrapped them in leftover colored tissue and bubble wrap. Unwrapping them as I prepare to decorate the tree will be like unwrapping little gifts all over again. Some I have forgotten and to see them again will be such a surprise.

We've got to get those lights on! After the tree is up, I will post a picture. Why don't you post a picture of your Christmas tree and send me a link? I would love that! I think my readers would too.