Oh. Christmas. Tree.

Well, I did it.  Inspired by the "decorating for Christmas the day after American Thanksgiving" tradition of two of my siblings, I loaded my children, my father in law and a friend of Katie's into the van on a chilly December 2nd, and headed to the garden center.  Initially overwhelmed by the selection of trees available (we usually wait at least 2 weeks longer to get a tree and there are maybe 4 Charlie Brown styles left), we decided on the second tree we saw, loaded it onto the van, paid for it (handsomely) and started home...
We made it about 500m, when the tree flew off of the roof, almost wiping out 4 cars travelling behind us. By the time we turned around, a kind gentleman had pulled over, hoisted it up, and was carrying it toward our van.  We thanked him, refastened the cut wonder to the roof, and slowly made the drive the rest of the way home.
At home, it was carried directly to the already decorated living room, where the stand stood ready, and we plunked it's fresh-cut trunk into it...fastened it in place...filled it with life-giving water, and let it stand for an hour or so before the decorating began.
We had a wonderful evening of Christmas tunes playing, eating warm, sticky cinnamon bread, and enjoying the memories associated with the decorations that we pulled out of the boxes...our green beauty smelled so good, looked great and we were ready for Christmas on December the 2nd!!


Today is December the 4th.  The prickly browning thing in my living room hasn't absorbed a drop of water, but has dropped a few needles and several ornaments. We can't cut it again without undecorating it, we can't find a drill to pop a few hopeful holes into it, and it appears Christmas did in fact come early...and as far as the life of our tree...it may already be over.