Our Christmas Disaster...Averted

I realized that I haven't blogged in a week. And when I don't blog for a few days my inner monologue gets to be a bit obnoxious. Writing out my thoughts, tapping away on the keyboard, somehow helps to flush out my brain. I sleep better. And I don't sit around gnawing over thoughts and events quite so much.

Needless to say, mentally, I really need to blog more often. So I'm sorry if I subject you, the innocent reader, to some crappy blogs. But some days I feel the need to blog even though I don't have much to blog about. Today however isn't one of those days.

I realized while I was stalking around Facebook that I have never posted anything aside from two status updates about our Christmas disaster. If you happen to be one of those weird people who manage to get by day to day without Facebook, then you might not know anything about my disaster.

Last Monday, (after my post about how in the holiday spirit I was, of course) we come home to find our Christmas tree collapsed in the floor. I had my hands full of bags and babies and Evie rushes into the living room and starts yelling "Santa's coming! Santa! Santa!" And at first, it is hilarious. No really. I laughed. Out loud. Evie probably doesn't remember last Christmas. And she certainly didn't get the whole Santa-Jesus-Christmas tree-presents thing then either way. This year she totally does. But she's a newbie to this whole thing so she will be the first to tell you that she doesn't necessarily get all the details.

She didn't know she was supposed to sit on Santa's lap (oops! my bad) so meeting Santa kinda threw her. She doesn't really understand the circumstances under which Santa arrives (we don't have a chimney and she doesn't know what a sugarplum is or why it would dance). She's never seen a reindeer nor does she remember any snowmen (be they magical talking ones or just plain stand alone ones) but she has danced around the Christmas tree. And she can tell you why we give gifts on Christmas (Jesus' birthday!) and name several of Santa's deer. This whole thing is still really new to her.

So for all Evie knew, coming home to find the Christmas tree laid out meant it was time to open presents. So Evie was excited. And her jumping up and down and running around the tree was pretty funny. Then I realized that the tree hadn't just fallen over, the tree had actually BROKEN. And I cried.

Here I was home alone with two babies, with a Christmas tree that weighs as much as me laid out across the living room, ornaments and decorations strewn everywhere, and I couldn't even pick the tree back up. What was I going to do??

Well, first I cried. Then I called my mom. Yeah. I guess you never get too old, right? My mom didn't really know what to do either. But she stayed on the phone with me while I wrestled the tree back into an upright position, straining something in my back and muttering bad words while loudly reminding my two-year-old to stay in the kitchen with her sister.

With the tree propped up in the corner, I could survey the damage. And cried again. Evie patted my shoulder, upset that I was upset. I tried to explain that I was sad because the tree was broken. She told me it would be okay. That Daddy would buy us a new one. I took a deep breath and tried to decide what to do to get us through the night at least.

Initially I thought that the tree was pretty much beyond saving. The stand itself was shattered (hence the falling). Decorations were everywhere and I figured there were several broken. Branches appeared to have broken off. More were bent and seriously disfigured. Lights were hanging helter skelter.

Did I mention that I cried? Yeah. This whole thing just broke my heart! Less than two weeks before Christmas and our tree was done. Dead. Broken and unusable. I was just so sad! Such a centerpiece in holiday festivities and our home would be without one. This year feels like the beginning of all of our Christmases. You know what I mean? This is the first year there are all four of us. Odds are good this is all of the Dowd children so this year everyone can start learning what our holiday traditions are going to be. This is when we are really starting holiday traditions as far as they're concerned. Making Jesus a birthday cake. Finding our elf every day. Writing letters to Santa. Christmas Eve at their grandparents. Spreading reindeer food. Making cookies for Santa. Waking up to all the presents on Christmas. This is the beginning of all those traditions for them. This year, it'll all be new. But in a few more years, these activities will be what they look forward to. The only way they will remember. How sad that one year we wouldn't have a tree! Elly's first Christmas and there would be no tree in the background of our pictures.

So yeah, I was upset.

As we picked up all the pieces of the tree and started gathering up all the ornaments I was relieved to learn that none of the ornaments were broken. And in fact none of the branches were broken either. All we needed was an artificial tree stand. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any of those. We checked around online and the local stores said they'd never even seen one.

Even if we wanted to buy a new one, all the local stores were pretty much down to bare pickings. I didn't really know what the best decision would be. Get a real tree? Borrow a friend's spare? Go without?

The next morning was a sad morning. We all felt really disappointed about the tree. Seemed like all four of us were grouchy and ill.

My husband made a last ditch effort to find a tree stand by checking ALL the local stores. And in a discount store that I didn't even know carried Christmas tree stuff, he found a tree stand. A durable, heavy duty tree stand for an artificial tree. An hour later he had the tree back up and all the ornaments were back on it. By the next day holiday joy had returned to our home.

So that is how our Christmas was ruined and saved...all in a 24 hour period.

So 5 days left until the OFFICIAL Christmas day. Are you ready?