Tree Slaughter 2008

I can now proudly report that our Christmas Extravaganza officially began on November 29th, when two trees, which had the misfortune to be growing woefully close to other trees and were thus deemed in need of "thinning", were chainsawed down and carted back to our home in the desert. Tyce and Grandpa Steve selected and hauled out the first tree from the Stanhope mountain property. It is an adorable, perfect-as-can-be, little fir tree. Although I was quite pleased with Tyce's first try at Christmas tree harvesting, this little fir didn't look like it would be up to supporting some of our heavier ornaments. And, we had already rearranged the living room to accommodate a larger tree, so I talked Todd and the kids into making a Christmas Forest. We chose a second, sturdier, spruce tree and stuffed them both into the back of our SUV (obviously neither are enormous trees).

They are now set up right next to each other in an attempt at artful arrangement, which, as most of my projects do, came out looking just a bit silly. First of all, instead of a nice random looking forest, the trees are almost identical in size and shape, so look more like a "couple" than anything Martha Stewart would have envisioned. Maybe we'll call them Santa and Mrs. Clause... Secondly, I only had one tree stand and didn't want to invest in a second, so the little fir is in a rock-filled flower pot which doesn't even come close to holding it upright. So, it is tethered to the curtain rod and window latch with fishing line, but still curves outward in an attempt to tip over. The spruce decorated up nicely, with strong branches to hold all my dainty little ornaments. The poor woebegone fir though... Well, ignoring Todd's advice, I went ahead and hung the heavy ornaments on it. The branches all droop down and the lights and ornaments all appear to be slipping off the tree (and many do, each day!). It looks like it is melting, but in a cute, festive kind of way. This is Tyce, who refused to get dressed the day we put the trees up (but is so cute anyway), modeling in front of the trees. Fir is on the left, Spruce on the right. I recommend spruce for all of you who haven't yet selected your trees.

But, the trees are up, the trimmings are out, the aloe plant in the bathroom is fully decorated and we are ready to start the December partying. We've got Todd's work Christmas party, a kid craft party, three birthday parties, two family gift exchanges, and a trip to Hawaii to squeeze in this month. And any other ill-fated ideas that I come up with, like bundling the kids into a stroller and walking around in the 4-o'clock darkness looking at lights. The kids are both very excited about Christmas and already look forward to opening the advent calender every morning after breakfast (chocolate at 8 am, they got in that habit at Papa Jared's house) As you can see from this picture, the maniacal, toy-crazed look has already entered Tyce's eyes. I'm banning the Disney Channel until after Christmas, maybe permanently. I can't standing hearing "I want that!" after every commercial. We're trying to focus on crafts and baking, donating outgrown toys, and carefully choosing gifts for others, but the siren-song of stupid assemble-your-own-alien toys is too strong to resist, apparently.