The day was clear and cold. We arrived at the lot and piled out of our 12 passenger van with high spirits. Within moments we were surveying rows of green trees, all of them quite lovely. My husband pointed at the closest tree on the end of the closest row: "how about this one?" Oh how I wish I had said "yes!", grabbed the tree, and run! But no, I had to dash off down a row to see if I liked anything better. Unfortunately, my 8 children followed my example. Well, I held the baby, and my husband had Legolas, so only 6 children ran hither and yon, pointing here, shouting there.
At one point I had three girls hugging a tree. I turned to see my three sons looking somewhere between unamused and nauseated. They wanted a big one. Galadriel burst into tears at their choice. Arwen was heavily in favor of a compromise tree, a compromise which the others were unwilling to accept.
Did I mention it was cold? Pain set into my ears. The baby grew unhappy. The man working at the lot was…watching. We picked one. The kids dashed off to the store to pay. Arwen had tears rolling down her face. Thinking quickly, I promised her that she, and only she, could pick out a new tree skirt (I have NO idea where our old one vanished to!). Satisfied, we came home, strung lights and let the kids hang the ornaments. The children were ready to celebrate. I breathed a sigh of relief! Here's how I found poor Eowyn moments after setting her down upon arrival home--I think that says it all!
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| the "new tree skirt" |
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| anyone surprised that it has "bling"? (Arwen did just turn 13);) |
Bling has nothing to do with being thirteen. The other ones had cartoon santas on them.
ReplyDelete-Arwen