Bah-humbug

Okay, if you know me, you know I pretty much dig Christmas. Seriously, I love the whole thing. The presents, the season, the music, the Gift....ALL of it. But today DEFINITELY put a damper on my holiday cheer. Chad had to work, so I had the boys all day. No big deal, that's not out of the ordinary. After all, the summer is pretty much me and the troops 24/7. After lunch, I decided, "Hey, it's the day after Thanksgiving. Time to put up the ol' Tannebaum." I put on my best Christmas music, and sprinkled in a few old faves like Air Supply's "All Out Of Love," Chicago's "Hard Habit to Break," and Journey's "Open Arms." I also downloaded Avalon's new album, so I was taking this opportunity to get out the ornaments and listen to some good music.

The boys and I worked diligently getting the boxes up from the basement. Now THAT is a task, let me tell you. Nevertheless, we made it. All of it came up without blemish and I didn't even lose any of the boys down the steep stairs. All was good. We then took the next 2 hours getting the tree put together. I know that seems a little long, but have you ever done this ritual with 4 boys in toe? 2 hours later, we were all done but the shoutin' (as my dad would say). We all were cleaning up boxes and trying to get re-organized. I found one box that had about 4 or 5 more ornaments in it, so the boys and I grabbed those out. Next thing I know, CRASH!!!! I turned around and the product of my afternoon was toppled over on the fish tank. THANKFULLY, there was no damage to the fish tank....oh my word, what would I have done? However, many ornaments were in pieces and needless to say, I was a little bit frustrated. I know the boys had nothing to do with this disaster because they were with me in the other room.

I then was trying to hold up a Christmas tree, locate the reason for the fall, shoo away four boys because of broken glass, and asking for help from the ones I had shooed away because I knew that I could not hold the tree and find the problem. With all the ornaments and lights on, it was too heavy for Luke, my oldest, to hold up on his own. Drew and Evan were not able to help, so they say. Therefore it was me and Luke - the army of 2 - to face the world...well, that's what it seemed like. I looked at the clock and realized Chad could be home at any minute which gave me a couple of thoughts:

1. oh good, some help..if I hold it long enough Chad will show up.
2. oh shoot, i really wanted to have this cleaned up when he got here so he could come home to a freshly decorated Christmas house....
3. oh crap, he called a while ago and said he was going to shop after work and didn't know when he would be home.

Shortly after this, I managed to locate the problem. I don't know WHY it fell, but it fell, nonetheless. The result was (other than broken spirits and ornaments) a completely shattered base and the bottom of the pole was broken as well.

So it began. I started ripping the tree apart. I was throwing ornaments in a box Evan got for me. Evan and I were ripping out pieces of the tree, limb by limb. We took lights off as we went. It went up in 2 hours, fell down in 2 seconds, and came apart in about 2 minutes. No kidding.

We bagged up most of it and put the bigger pieces back in the box. Took it all out to the trash. Tomorrow I hope the waste department of Howard County will gather it up and haul it away.

At this point, I jumped in the shower thinking this was the only thing left that could truly calm me down. 15 minutes later, the kids and I were headed to Kokomo for a new tree. We came back with a pre-lit tree that needs no set up. It's one of those skinny-looking ones. I'm sure if you look at Dan and Angie's pictures on their blog you will find one similar, since they have like 153 trees in their house....But when I picked out the tree, I completely was NOT thinking about how to get it home. It doesn't break down. So I got to the van and thought, "Great. This is exactly what I need now....buy a tree and have to leave it in the parking lot" (not that I would have). I ended up shoving it through the middle of the van over the tops of the two back seats and up between my seat and the front passenger seat from the back hatch. Anyway, it's now 6 hours after my trip to Kokomo, but the house is decorated. I'm pleased with the top of my piano. I'm also really pleased with the ol' tannenbaum. (Can you tell I'm enjoying that word? "Tannenbaum" - it's just fun. I bet some of you use it this week and think of me....)

Some other funny points from the evening:
I was clearing off the top of my piano, where I decorated with all my breakable snowmen stuff (because I love snowmen and because Gabriel is at the age where it's all a toy to him). I wanted to dust it, and I was standing up on the bench. I asked Drew to go get me the dusting stuff. He came back with a butter knife. I'm not sure where he goes in his mind, but he is definitely one that keeps me on my toes.

After the kids got in bed, Chad was telling me about the kids watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade yesterday. I was cooking or something at this point, but I had watched it with Gabriel a little before that. (He had a good time waving to the Dora the Explorer, Spongebob Squarepants, and Scooby Doo balloons.) Chad said that the kids were watching and when Hannah Montana (one of the newest characters on Disney Channel, daughter of Billy Ray Cirus and Luke's girlfriend, one of a growing list) came on the parade, they all stopped what they were doing, mouth agape and watched in silence until she was gone. When Chad noticed that, he said, "What are you doing looking at my girlfriend?" It sparked a big argument over whose girlfriend she actually was. Chad's story about it ended with him saying, "That Hannah Montana. She IS a sweet and adorable little girl." Now, "sweet" and "adorable" aren't words Chad uses often, so I turned around and just gave him this all-knowing look that I have. He said, "What? I'm not saying that in a creepy way." I didn't say anything, just kept up with the stare. He grinned, tucked his chin under, and said, "Okay, maybe I have a little crush on Hannah Montana." It may not be as funny to you as it was me, but I needed the comic relief after today's tree incident.

I'm sure my Holiday Cheer will return. I probably just need a nap.

(There you go, Jenny...was it all you hoped it would be?)