My bloggy friend Cecily, an outstanding mother of three
adorable & highly photogenic munchkins,
inspired me (yet again).
How? By her tale of love of Christmas Trees & her husband's love of her,
who though allergic to Christmas Trees, would help choose & haul & set up Christmas Trees until they did the artificial one;
and her love of her children, which causes her to to be free and easy with the decorating and letting the kids have a hands-on approach.
What did this make me think of? It made me remember how L...O...N...G it took me to realize decorating the Christmas tree was not all about me! I know, I know...it's shameful! I can hear the disdain in your voices..."what kind of mother are you?" you ask.
I was a mother completely obsessed with the pretty colors. Whatever the pretty colors were for the season, I was very impressionable!
I was into victorian when it was big,
(mauve and ivory, lots of handmade ornaments, that was fun!).
Now remember, I am the only female in the household,
no one else could appreciate the white lights and lace! Or the mauve satin! :) This was followed by lots of iridescent stuff! Again, not a big hit with the men!
My husband is such a traditional sort, all he wanted for Christmas was the blue, green, red sort of lights he grew up with. NOTHING else said Christmas to him in the same way...
Much as I loved him, I was completely tunnel-visioned about this in my pursuit of the perfect Christmas Tree!
Over a period of years, I S-L-O-W-L-Y got wiser...
I began to gradually move towards red, gold and green..
this was closer, but no cigar...not yet!
The year that about did me in was the year I spontaneously
decided to bring a Christmas Tree home from the grocery store...in my Saturn!
Now, you may remember that I use to rush hurly-burly through life...that is my only excuse!
Anyway, the tree I bought, with no forsight whatsoever, was windshield, to out the trunk long...
We cleaned evergreen needles out of that car until we traded it in...
It would have been comical if my husband had not been so...
shocked I'm guessing is the word.
At my lack of hmmm....how shall I say? Common sense?
The tree was soooo big and majestic, it busted out our tree stand,
and I had to go back and get a new one.
That went over realllllly well!
Then he had to actually tie it with fishing line to make it stay up
(did I mention the tree was BIG?)
Once it was beautifully decorated and we had all retreated to our respective corners to lick our wounds...there was a creak....then...
A BANG!
Evergreen everywhere! Glass and water everywhere!
Children nowhere to be found! (They're very street smart!)
Anywhoooo - we DID recover! :)
And I learned to include my husband in all my purchases of family items,
especially the Christmas Tree!
Here is last year's...it is the first time we did a tree
just like he and the guys have been wanting!
They LOVED it!
The pics don't do it justice.
They were so happy! It made it completely worthwhile!
I do have to say that I have always had
a box of special ornaments the kids made, that goes up every year
...no matter WHAT the style!
I'm not that bad, Ya'll!
Ok, you all! I wanted to leave you with this last thought...
if you are wondering what all is good and Christmassy out in bloggy land,
This is Earl! Our Christmas mascot!
Ho, Ho, Ho!
12 comments:
Hey Maria! I love love your tree pictures! You are so nice to include me in your posts so often. What a nice bloggy friend you are!!
I think, by the way, if this tree thing is one of you worst vices, I'd say you are one or two up on most people! :)
Ooops! Thanks! That's what I get for being in such a hurry I don't proof my work!
U R welcome! I just like to highlight blogs I like! !
Gosh no way! I wish that was my 'only' vice!
Maria, what a fabulous post. I added it to my "Blessed" post.
I did years of decorating just to please me. All my husband ever wanted was blue lights. About five years ago we went to blue & white and that was all it took to please him.
The boys have a tree in their room with mulit-color lights and their decorations.
This post struck a special note in my heart!!
(())
Julie
I love your trees! I loved the story of bringing home the monster tree! What a hoot! You inspired me to post a pic on my blog of our tree! Thanks for the inspiration! Love it!
Great Christmas tree pics and I loved all of them.
As it's only me and the husband, I do the tree. The women in my family have been very obsessive over the decoration. I have a confession.
I was not allowed to really decorate the tree as a child as it was to be a masterpiece. So when I left home, it was the same with me. When my husband's two children came to stay one year, he asked me if I would let them help. Well, it looked awful but they were so pleased and I took pictures of it with them standing proudly by.
When they left, I couldn't stand it anymore and stripped it back then started again. I told them the cats had had a race up there and dragged it down.
Awful woman that I am!!!
They are older now and not so into Christmas trees so it's back into my domain now.
I get such a kick out of decorating it. I play carols and Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole. I carefully place the ornaments where I think best then voila, it's done.
I love that you named your bear.
You know, although that tree was huge and made a huge mess and all, they really do look smaller on the lot. We just bought ours today and I got practically the smallest one they had and it is just the right size once it is in our small space. So don't beat yourself up about that.
There is a house not far from us which must have 20 lighted trees in the front window. At Halloween there are about 50 pumpkins and the rest of the year the drapes are pulled shut.
Joyful,
Thank you very much! I had so much fun with this one! Thanks for adding it! That list you are compiling is awesome! I love it!
How sweet that you got something for all your guys to enjoy with the lights! Making great memories!
Leslie,
:) So glad I got you to laugh! It is really funny now...it was sooooo NOT funny at the time! :)
I loved your Christmas tree pic btw!
Bunny Girl!
You sound just like me & my bf (she reads, but no commnets)
Oh, MaryAnn! We are talking about YOUUUU!
Seriously though, the music makes it really awesome doesn't it?
Heidi,
:) Thank you! We LOVE Earl, but he has hit a bit of a rough patch. My oldest son's german shepherd (Roxy) is really sweet, but very much akin to Odie (as in Garfield & Odie) & has decided that Earl is a predator she must protect her turf from...Not a pretty picture...not sure who will live & who will go! :)
Thanks for your kind words...& what you say is true...I wish I had thought of that in self defense when I came home with the Monster! :)
Oh, the things we live to laugh about later!
Karolee,
Thank goodness there are at least 2 holidays to pull them out of their shell to play! :)
Merry Christmas, Ya'll!
I am LOVIN your supa-cool graphics!
Great post, us usual.
Great stuff. The best posts are when we can show an acutal change in ourselves. For the better. Decorated trees are nice but my favorite is a thick stand of pines with about 8 inches of snow weighing down their branches. You just can't bring those in the house though.
Thanks for the great post and the chuckles. I am the only female in my household (including our pets) and I know the feeling! We pretty much have the same colors you now have too.
Renee'
http://rmboys2.wordpress.com/
Mrs Fussy!
Great to see you! Thank you!
Hope all is well in your many endeavors!
Carole,
Thanks! It's funny - looking back I almost don't recognize that woman! & in another 5-10, probably I'll say the same, to the better I hope!
Renee',
You're welcome! It is a joy, but also the makings of much humor to be in such a household! I wouldn't trade it for anything!
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