tree time

We have a tree. It’s lit, strung, and ornamented. Of course, it’s currently on it’s second lighting/stringing/ornamenting, thanks to the tumble it took last evening. Not much is as disheartening as a Christmas tree laying flat on your living room floor, surrounded by glass casualties. *sigh*

But it’s standing again, huge and wild and beautiful. Monday morning, this tree was growing in our backyard, part of a quartet of pines, but my daddy’s saw turned the quartet into a duo, and we got ourselves free Christmas trees.

Yesterday, there was the organized chaos of a nana, two mamas, three aunties, an uncle, and countless cousins (I don’t dare say a number; I’ll most definitely leave one out!) in our family room, beautifying the tree. Ornaments that had been given the last few years, but had never had a tree on which to hang, were unwrapped and rediscovered and put in their rightful place. Memories of honeymoons, first Christmases, road trips with the family, grade school teachers, and many more were shared. Glass, felt, porcelain, cross-stitch, all in between rows of red and white beads. Sparkling birds are clipped to the ends of wild branches — branches which invited live birds only weeks ago.

And, of course, the almost-invisible wire that Ryan used to tie the tree last night at 10:30.

This morning, I got to watch my very own little boy run from his bedroom to see our very own tree for the very first time.

Our first Christmas here, in this wonderful home, sitting right in the midst of a beautiful winter wonderland.

7 Comments tree time

  1. darlenesinclair

    Well, you could say this tree was twice the fun of most!
    And it looks like many of the ornaments are in the exact same places as the first time around! How wonderful for Jameson and William to have a tree to snuggle next to in the evening’s glow, and fragrant branches to welcome them in the morning!

    Reply
  2. sam

    How fun to cut a tree from your own yard! We did that our first year in the NY house, after that we ran out of options. :)
    What a bummer to find a tree on it’s side. Ours has fallen every ten years. You can bet when we hit 30 we will be sure to have it bolted to the wall in a preemptive strike.
    Your tree looks lovely, almost as lovely as those two boys (when did they get to be boys by the way?) in front of it.

    Reply
  3. Sarah

    Time honored advice from Marshall Cline:
    Buy a galvanized bucket at the hardware store. (A lovely country accent, BTW)
    Center the freshly cut tree trunk in the bucket.
    Wedge it into position with some rocks (medium sized ones).
    Then you can fill the bucket with water – a tree will drink 2 gallons in the first 24 hours!
    Voila! A hydrated tree that will not budge!

    Reply
  4. Jen Trelease

    Wonderful! I love Christmas. and Christmas stories – that tree topple is pretty funny and I am shocked after reading your comments, that I’ve never had or heard of a tree falling over! We just decorated ours last night and Eleora’s eyes were all aglow. We’ve had so much fun with her. Kids make Christmas 10xs more fun! We miss and love you all.

    Reply
  5. Randi

    Your ornaments broke? :( Our tree fell over last year. It was Christmas Eve….all the presents were wrapped and under the tree. The tree fell, water dumped out on the presents and we were up until 3am blow drying the carpet, air drying presents, and redecorating the tree. NOT COOL. We have a fake tree this year. I wonder why? lol.

    Reply

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