Putting up the tree

[pegkerr]

We went out on Sunday night and bought the tree. Our usual place for tree shopping, Franks, has just gone out of business, which made us sad, but we found a place less than a mile from our home and were able to find a nice one for exactly the price we were hoping for. I thought to myself for the first time, as we were wrestling it into the house, that perhaps we really should think about buying an artificial tree. No needles to sweep up. Just one expense, once, and then we wouldn't have to shell out money every single year. But I looked at the girls, absolutely bouncing up and down with excitement ("Look! We've got our tree! It smells so nice! I can't wait to decorate it!") and thought of pulling a tree with no smell out of the box in the basement every year and thought . . . nah.

We put it in the stand and gave it a drink of water and left it and then we decorated it last night after dinner. The girls apparently decided that since this was a festive occasion, they should wear dress up. Delia wore the tattered old dearly beloved Belle costume, and Fiona combined bits and pieces of various things and draped a string of silver beads, meant for trimming the tree, around her neck and waist, like a Glamour model gone berserk. Rob and I were both short of sleep and sat drooping at the dinner table, but the girls were loud and happy and hilarious. "Where do they get their energy?" I murmured to Rob as they dashed downstairs to haul up the ornament boxes.

He answered as I knew he would: "They steal it from us."

Rob went to do an on-line HPEF board meeting and I did the dishes and then helped the girls finish decorating the tree. All the lights worked. Fiona and Delia simply glowed as they pulled out the old, dear battered ornaments and carefully hung them on the branches, sometimes consulting our ornament record: "Ooh, this ornament is mine! Which one did you get that year? That was in 1996." "Mom, when did you get this one?" "Oh, look, this one's broken."

They were so happy. Through the scrim of my exhaustion, I drank in their happiness greedily and was satisfied. Christmas is lovely. Christmas is a wonderful, magical holiday. It is also a helluva lot of work for the mother of small children, in case you didn't know, and sometimes for a woman who tends to winter-induced depression, it crosses my mind to wonder if all the work is worth it. But last night, looking at my children's delighted faces, it absolutely was, and is. I am so glad they are storing up lovely Christmas memories that will please them for a lifetime.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had that fun. My kids never got much of a charge out of going out and getting a tree. I thought it would be this great family experience that they would always remember, but no. They're been perfectly happy with an artificial tree for many years now. Sigh.

(Re Rob's comment: J has always said that kids are "energy vampires.")

[mereilin.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. I really needed some inspiration to get me through my winter depression for my own small children. It helps to remember that they don't have to share my bleak and jaded perceptions.

[kristenj.livejournal.com]

I love your family stories!

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

They're vampires.

I also firmly believe that I lost 50% of my brain with each placenta, and I am now staggering along with 25% of the original quantity.

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

The only reason we have a fake tree is that my grandmother had to get one that was under seven feet tall (arthritis) and therefore gave us her old one. Until I was fifteen or sixteen, we got real trees. It was nice. Now we have a tree in a box and a can of Glade Evergreen-scented spray stuff. (Although that stuff's terrible for you and the environment. Maybe we can get a jar of essential oils or something and leave it open for a while.)

Christmas is awesome. You're also in possession of two of the cutest kids ever. :) Good luck!

[chamisa.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. Just beautiful. :-)

[volkhvoi.livejournal.com]

Such great family stories!

When we lived in Glasgow we found vitamin D helped. Glasgow in mid-winter is dismal - chill and grey and raining. We figured it explained why Scots have a rep for being dour.

[-pennyfeather.livejournal.com]

You don't know me, but I love all of your stories about your family =D My best memories of christmas was going to the tree farm and riding in the back of a truck beside it. My mom has been using a fake one for a few years now, and since we're celebrating xmas at home, I begged for a real one. Decorating is one of my favorite things to do.

Do the math

[amandageist.livejournal.com]

OMG.

1st child takes 50%, leaving me 50% of original.
2nd child takes 50% of remainder, leaving me 25%.
3rd child takes 50% of that. Ye gods.

I am toodling along with 12.5% of my original brain cells. And evidence suggests *those* are taken up with decades-old commercial jingles. AAAAAGGGHH!

~Amanda