05 December 2011

i hate christmas trees.


well, i seem to have survived my first semester of school!  it wasn’t always easy and it wasn’t always fun, but i’m really glad to be back.  and i’m even more glad to have a nice loooong break ahead of me :)
 
so, i believe i would post some pictures of christmas decorations today, correct?  well, funny story. only at the time it REALLY WASN’T FUNNY…
 
sunday was my last day of school. we were supposed to get out early as soon as each group’s presentation was done – but that didn’t happen.  the computer system had a complete breakdown, so power point slideshows were out of the question.  luckily everyone in class had brought goodies for a pot luck, so we sat around, ate and talked.  not too bad.  but by the time we finally left it was after 4pm, which is the latest we had ever gotten out of class!  i was hoping to get home in the afternoon and have plenty of time to take my last final, an online exam for my macroeconomics class.  but by the time i got home, i didn’t have enough time for the exam and decorations. so naturally, we decided my exam would wait.
 
philip & i went out, grabbed dinner, went to the market (i hadn’t grocery shopped since way before thanksgiving – shhhhh!) and then went to pick out our tree.  the first lot didn’t have any good ones, but the second lot had a picture perfect tree. so we strapped her to the roof and drive her home!  philip got out the christmas boxes out of the basement, i put on the carpenter’s christmas portrait (we always listen to it as we decorate!) and we started decking the halls.  we saved the best – the tree – for last. 
 
well, as it turned out, our tree stand was broken.  of course it took as a good sap-and-profanity-filled half hour to figure this out.  determined to not let this ruin the evening, philip went out and bought another tree stand.  even though it was past my sunday-evening bedtime (8:30pm) we decided to definitely finish the tree before heading to bed.  the new stand was bigger and better (i.e. not broken) than the last, so as soon as we got the tree up we filled the bottom with water and started decorating.  i love taking out ornaments out of their boxes – we have so many cool ones i always forget about from year to year.  once the tree was decorated and the star was on top, we sat down to admire our handiwork. 
 
but the tree was leaning a bit.  so up we got, again, to adjust the tree.  loosen the screws one way, tighten the other way – philip managed the tree stand as i steadied the frozen trunk, then we switched.  when i knelt down to screw in the tree, i saw a huge puddle – the tree stand was leaking.  so here we were, with a fully decorated tree in its second tree stand of the night which was now leaking.  not cool.  we were a bit unhappy.  our best course of action, we decided, was to pull the tree OUT of the stand, lean it against the wall, and exchange the 2nd crappy tree stand of the night for a new one. 
 
well, as philip tried to get the stand out the tree tipped over – i had to jump off the couch to catch it.  a bunch of our ornaments fell, some broke.  so when we finally went to bed, around midnight, it was with a half-decorated tree leaning against the wall, pine needles everywhere. 
 
so, no pics of the tree today friends.  we are buying a fake tree and i will never deal with a real tree again.  but hey, it wouldn’t be the holidays without some tears of frustration and scarring.  the rest of the house looks pretty nice though, if i may say so. can’t wait for you to see it! :)

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