Later, when we arrived at home, ate our dinner, and somehow began watching Zach & Cody (I hate those guys), I kept cheering in my excited Mom voice, “Ok guys, let’s turn off the TV and bring the Christmas Tree up! It’s time to PUT UP THE TREE!!” (Insert small happy clap and excited Mom face.)
What response did I get from my little angels? “Ahh, mom, do we HAVE to?”
What the frickin’ frackin’ is goin’ on all up in here, people!??? I was doing this for THEM! The last thing I want to do when I arrive home from a 35-40 hour holiday road trip (each way) is to clean up Christmas at our house. Especially when that involves putting away our tree. Which, by the way, is NOT pre-lit. It is, however, one of the trees that is in a billion pieces. We have to assemble it like a jigsaw puzzle and fluff each and every one of those branches. And then add lights. The only fun part is pulling out our special ornaments.
![IMG_0542_thumb[1]](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-iIS_P4IqfxQ/TuLKfS03OTI/AAAAAAAACPY/cqbB0OOomSc/s1600-h/IMG_0542_thumb%25255B1%25255D%25255B3%25255D.jpg "IMG_0542_thumb[1]")
So I turned off Zach and Cody and lined up those dern kids up along the wall. (I really did.) I looked them all in the eyes and said, “It sounds to ME like you guys don’t really want to put up the tree? Is that a fair assessment?”
…“Kinda.”
“Well, we don’t HAVE to put it up… ya know, we aren’t even going to be here for Christmas and all…” (Insert invisible happy dance going on inside my head.)
I calmly continued, “So, what if we don’t put up our tree, but we bring our special ornaments with us to Grandma’s house and put them up on her tree when we arrive? How would you feel about that?”
The girls were ECSTATIC. Logan hesitated for a moment- with one raised eyebrow… “I guess that would be okay.”
KABOOM! We simplified our holidays in one simple way. We made cinnamon toast, hot chocolate, and built a fire in the fireplace. It was the best gift we’ve given ourselves this Christmas season.
However, I miss the glow of the Christmas tree at night, I do. Small price, big trade-off.
(image from last year)
What are YOU not doing this year?
Posts
I'm not spending Christmas as a grumpy grinch of a scrooge this year because i finally have a beautiful wife to spend the holidays with... Isn't life grand?
ReplyDeleteI have a really hard time with putting up the tree with my 3 boys, who don't seem to pay as much attention to the tree as the tv. Usually I stress about all the ornaments just put in one spot on the tree. This year I cleared the room and let dad take over. So much less stress.
ReplyDelete