Anyway, last Saturday night I got all excited to put up a tree! So we bought a coupon – a $40 tree for $28 – an NC TREE from a local store! Win – Win – Win, right…nope all their $40 trees were ~4ft (who wants to look down on the angel?). So I bah humbuged and grumbled (and grumbled about Christmas, about spent money, about…well, everything – it’s a rabbit hole).
During the week we went to a couple of stores looking at trees – they’re soooo expensive! more grumbling bah humbuging.
On Saturday we bit the bullet drove across town to the original place, determined to just spend more for a ‘happy’ tree. Afterall, we’re going to be here… this is the tree…unlike other year’s when my mom’s tree is THE tree of Christmas. We arrived to find they had NO TREES! more grumbling and bah humbuging. So we stopped at Lowe’s Home Improvement, bought a tree with a balding spot for way more than a bald tree is worth. (Side note, we arrived at checkout to find neither of us had our wallets! I had to dash home before purchasing – note to Lowe’s get your electric pmt system fixed) And brought it home.
We decorated inside the house. Put the tree in it’s stand string the lights…and were outta decorating time. bah humbug
Sunday morning – CRAP – Who put water in the tree? 🤦♂️ bah humbug It’s gonna be bald all over! So, Jennifer puts water in while I finish getting ready for church (because I’m running late – no surprise) and I hear – our tree stand has a leak…water is running every where! WHO HAS TIME FOR THIS! bah humbug
Mop up water. Go to Church. Come home. Lunch. Home Depot has 6 tree stands. I sit down to finish my sermon for Sunday night, Jenn runs to get tree stand – they have none! Bah humbug
Lowe’s no tree stand.
Walmart no tree stand.
I’m starting to think back to when my dad put our tree each year in a 5gal bucket with dirt (he didn’t need a tree stand)…I’ve no time or energy for digging…then Jenn called Island Tackle & Hardware yes, they have tree stands!
Tree stand home. Sermon done. Can we transfer the tree without removing the already strung lights? YES!
Decorating begins. Wait is that tree leaning?
Did the tree just fall over? Bah humbug
Tree’s back up but badly leaning…but we’ve no time to address this…off to church. As we’re driving home we place bets of whether or not the tree will be standing…Jenn won! It was.
Half decorated tree outta the stand. Bottom Limbs trimmed. Back in the stand. Reasonably straight. And decorated!
In 23 years Jenn and I have put up many trees. Never has it been such an ‘adventure’. In this year of pandemic, this season of waiting that has spanned 9 months and counting, we must celebrate all the times we just keep trying again, trying differently, getting up again. Bah humbugs and all!
Get up one more time, y’all.
And repeat as much as you need.
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