Oh Christmas Tree

 The story of our Christmas tree is pretty good. So good, in fact, that I can't believe I've waited this long to share it.

 After much deliberation, I had decided that we should put our tree up in the apartment at the farm. Why? Mostly because I didn't want to bring all our decorations down to Trumansburg when we are moving back sometime soon, and also we've been going home a lot anyway.

 So we picked out a Christmas tree and Martin set it up. I held it while he screwed the pegs in and Aubrey cried in the background. Then Martin hung the lights and we put up ornaments. The whole thing was done from start to finish in about 30 minutes. We were so proud of ourselves.Then we went over to my mom's house to have cake for Martin's birthday. Where we told everyone about how we had already gotten our amazing and beautifully decorated Christmas tree standing serenely in our living room.

 Then at night I took pictures of it in the dark. It was magical.


...Then on Sunday morning Martin got up to go hunting and I was sitting in the bedroom feeding Aubrey when suddenly. Baam! I heard something hit the floor. I headed out to the living room to find out tree laying on the floor in the living room. I immediately called Martin.

Me: Umm. Our tree just fell down.
Martin: I'll be right there
Me: Where are you?
Martin: I'm still at your parent's house getting the truck. I'll be right there.

Minutes later, Martin was lying on the soaking wet floor in pine needles complaining about the tree stand and what a piece of crap it was. Then he said the problem was some spike in the center that made the tree keep falling to the sides. So he tried to cut the spike out with a knife. Then the entire endeavor got frustrating and he shoved the tree in a corner resolving he would be back to fix it this afternoon!

When my father learned of this momentous occasion he was insanely happy. Mostly because my dad is cynical and wants everyone to experience the same contempt for Christmas Trees that he does. You see, growing up, the assembly of the Christmas Tree was always a production in our house. Mostly, I remember my dad yelling and swearing and my mom getting angry at my dad. It was a real exhibit for the season of giving . So when my dad learned that our tree fell over and that we were experiencing the same problems he once did, well, let's just say his feeling were nothing short of utter delight.

So Martin went hunting and came back in the afternoon to fix the tree declaring that "it had consumed his thoughts all day" He also mentioned that it was probably a good thing he didn't finish cutting out the spike in the bottom of the treestand because when he was explaining his dilemna to his stepfather, Carlton, his reply was "Don't the new stands have a spike in the center that keeps the tree straighter??

This time we used building blocks inside the treestand to support it and within minutes it was standing straight and redecorating.  Martin said the building blocks were the cat's ass

And all was right in the world