First, we must rent a vehicle - an SUV to get the tree from the tree farm to our house. The tree certainly cannot be tied to my husband's Chrysler 300M Special (shame on the wife who would ever even suggest such a thing), and my car is too small to comfortably haul the family in. Early Saturday morning we pick up the rental SUV, grab some breakfast, and head out to the tree farm.
We let the kids pick out the tree - having them switch off with the responsibility each year. This year my son picked, and I think we looked at about 254 trees before he decided on "the one" - a TEN foot Norwegian Spruce. Next comes the sawing process, the wrapping of the tree, the picking of a wreath, the obligatory family photo, oh, and then the hot chocolate, cookies and popcorn. By the time we got home, got the tree unloaded, in the stand and in the front room, Saturday was gone and I was exhausted!
Guess what we did Sunday? That's right! Time to decorate the monster in the front room. Get the ladders and all of the decorations out. Check all of the lights to make sure they work. Wait, some are blinking and some are not. Can't have that - make sure all of the lights are blinking. String the lights on the tree - oops! Not enough lights - run to the Ace hardware in town to get 3 more strings of lights. Lights are on, kids start with the ornaments. Of course mom still has to help - can't have the kids on the ladder or we'll inevitably have a trip to the ER. FINALLY finish at 6PM Sunday. Put all of the bins that hold the decorations in the basement and, what?? It's time for bed already? Where did the weekend go?
