“David! If you do not go in your room right now and get dressed, Daddy and Wade will go to the Christmas tree farm, and you I will stay home.”
And so began our annual trip to hunt down the perfect evergreen and make gauzy, sentimental holiday memories together. Because when you have kids, making memories is 50 percent smiles and laughter and 50 percent crying and yelling.
Finally, David put some pants on and after, “Yes, you have to wear your coat. Zip it up! Hat and gloves too. I know I said it wasn’t that cold. I meant it wasn’t as cold as the year it was 20 degrees with a wind chill of minus 5 and we almost lost all our fingers. But it’s still cold,” we got in the van.
The Christmas tree farm is only 30 minutes away from home. Ten minutes into the trip David asked, “Are we there yet?” After that, every time we came to a stop sign or even slowed down slightly for a sharp curve Wade said, “We’re here!”
When we pulled into the tree farm, parked and exited the vehicle right next to a long row of cut Christmas trees the boys both asked, “Where are we?”
Maybe the the lack of snow disoriented the boys, and that’s why they didn’t recognize the place we go every Christmas to get our tree. It was odd not stomping through the powdery, white stuff. Instead we squashed through mud.
“Wade! Stay out of the mud puddle! Your boots are snow proof, not waterproof.” We should have worn galoshes, but that didn’t seem right in December. So we wore snow boots, because that’s what we do when we go to the Christmas tree farm to make memories.
A tractor pulled us by wagon to what Wade called the Christmas tree orchard. We hopped off into the mud, and there right in front of us was the perfect Christmas tree; the right height, width and it was symmetrical on all sides with no gaping holes.
A major part of the cutting-down-the-Christmas-tree experience is the thrill of the hunt. We couldn’t just take the first tree we saw. Where was the memory-making in that? So we walked down the rows. Everyone offered critiques of each tree, but nothing stood out. Eventually we were cold and tired. With the perfect tree now way down at the other end of the field, we decided on a closer, mediocre one.
Dave and David took turns sawing down the tree, so they could feel manly and outdoorsy. Then we rode back to the barn.
But we couldn’t leave until someone spilled hot chocolate, because every year one of us spills the hot chocolate the farm hands out to customers returning from a hard morning of chopping down trees. This time it was Wade’s turn.
Their hot chocolate is more like molten lava. We told Wade, but he begged for a cup, so we let him try it. After one sip, he decided it was too hot, and flung the full cup of chocolate across the barn floor. Ah, one more gauzy, sentimental, embarrassing holiday memory to add to our arsenal.
We headed home.
Dave helped put the tree in the stand, then left for work. The boys and I were left to decorate. I knew they wanted to help put the ornaments on, and I knew they wouldn’t do it right.
“No! You put the lights on first.”
“No! The bulbs go on next, then all the other cute little things.”
“You can’t hang three red bulbs right next to each other.”
“You can’t put all the ornament just on the right side of the tree.”
“You can’t hang four ornaments on the same branch.”
This was the first year both boys helped me decorate the tree. Despite their lack of basic decorating theory knowledge, to my surprise they were actually kind of helpful. I let the rules go, and they had fun.
As we decorated, we discovered the branches on the right side of the tree are notably longer than the ones on the left, the branches are also droopy so the ornaments keep falling off, and there is a big gaping hole right in the middle of the tree.
Our decorations don’t match because they’re a mishmash of whatever hasn’t broken over the years. There are ornaments stacked on top of ornaments. We have two tree toppers, a silver star and giant jingle bell, because the boys believe less is, well, less. The two together are too heavy, so the tree leans forward a bit at the top. The Holy Family displayed underneath the tree gets knocked over at least three times a day, and Baby Jesus is regularly used as an action figure.
Our imperfect tree is the perfect Christmas tree for our family in the midst of raising two rambunctious young boys who don’t know where they are and throw scalding cups of hot chocolate across the room. Right now everything in life is slightly askew, a little sloppy and happily out-of-place.
And together we made one more gauzy, sentimental, if asymmetrical, holiday memory.
I will not even lie, this entire thing made me LAUGH OUT LOUD!! The 50% happy and 50% crying is just SO TRUE!! Love this post so much!! 🙂
I let our kids decorate the tree all by themselves and I am thrilled with the {lopsided, bottom-heavy} results! After all, our house is such a mess we can’t have anyone over to see the tree anyway!! Merry Christmas!
Fan-tast-ic!!! Real life is about doing it. This will probably be the best Christmas ever.
This post made me smile. Very nice tree! I’ve always wanted to go to a Christmas Tree farm. Right now we have a fake tree. With pine scented stuff on it. Ha.
Hahaha! Reminds me of all the “wonderful” times I was determined that we were going to have FUN and make a memory, lol! We did and now they’re funny, lol!
I’m right there with ya this year! We’ve definitely got a leaner…and it’s not even real {sadface}. I still maintain that the mishmash trees loaded with ornaments at kid height or lower are the best!
Ha, love your story ;). Felt like I was right there with you. We don’t cut down a tree. I used to as a child and every year we say we should get a real tree, but then reality of a child with asthma and an allergy to pine sets in. So instead we have a fake tree, but decorating it was chaotic and ornaments keep getting moved. I think one branch right now has 5 ornaments on it. It was great when we first did it, but the toddler got so into decorating this year that she just wants to keep doing it. I try to rearrange, but well I’m just getting tired of it. By Christmas the bottom of the tree might not have any ornaments on it, lol. But these things are stuff we will look back on and say hey remember last year when you kept moving all the ornaments. Or remember last year when you chucked the hot chocolate across the barn. Everyone laughs and then we move along to fighting over who gets to put the Santa ornament on the tree. Ahhh, holiday memories ;).
Stopping by from SITS ;).
This made me laugh! And, maybe I’m just not discerning, but I think the Christmas tree looks great! 🙂
I felt like I was right there with you picking out a tree and decorating! Thanks! I let my 6 year old put all the ornaments on the tree this year, so they are mostly at the same level and bunched together. But I just had to let my perfectionist qualities go and let her enjoy creating on her own …
Stopping by from SITS
It would seem you have your hands very full during this holiday☺☺The story will grow thru the years with memories. Happy SITS Saturday!
Laurie
Lol I can so relate. Our tree is fake but decorating with 4 kids including 1 3 yr old and 2 cats is always a good time. I think your tree is beautiful!
Rambunctious, that’s a great word! Great post, I’ve come over from The Tales of Me and got directed to your post ‘What’s happening to the young men in America’ (sad but interesting post). I then realised this is the one you have shared on SITS! This did make me laugh and what lovely memories. I love the idea of going to the Christmas tree farm and cutting your own one down. All adds to the experience. We go and get our fresh tree and take our time to choose it but they all precut so no fun of the true hunt! He he!
Thanks for sharing
{Melinda} We are so on the same wavelength! I wrote a very similar post this week … sometimes the process isn’t pretty, but where would the fun be if everything went according to plan? (Although it would be nice if occassionally something went according to plan!) 🙂
haha what a great post. I loved how you started it off- had me hooked to read the rest. and I think your tree looks perfect!
Happy sharefest!