Lights, Camera, Christhmath!

Hellooooooo Griswolds. I don't care what anyone says, our family owns that title. I've said it before and I'll stand by it. We are the Griswolds. We thought very seriously about naming our next child Clark or possibly using Griswold as a middle name....and then we remembered that we made sure (99% sure, at least) that we won't be having any more kids. Instead we'll just continue on our "what would the Griswolds do" path. On Wednesday afternoon, while running last minute Thanksgiving prep errands, we ended up at Costco. As we were leaving we saw a lone tree out with a price and description. Come to find out, Costco would be bringing in a truckload of Douglass Fir trees, 7-8 feet, for the unbelievable low price of $33.50. Seriously? $33.50?!?!? For the last I-don't-even-know-how-many years we have ended up on a lot, paying an obnoxious amount for a tree, after trying our best to find a better deal. We've tried the Ma/Pa shops, the tree farms, the Cub Scouts, etc. Now I should mention, I am extremely particular when it comes to our tree. It has to be exactly right. No branch out of place, not too full, not too tall, no bald spots, etc. It takes me a while to find the tree that I have to put up with for a whole month. Okay, so back to this tree in Costco.....we couldn't stop thinking about what a deal it was. I finally convinced myself that we should go for it. I mean, really, this would cost us less than half of what we are used to paying. What a deal. I am not that picky, am I? It just has to look half decent. The one on display at Costco was actually really nice. I could totally live with that. So off we went to pick up our tree. We paid for it and loaded it up. Kevin was really uncomfortable with the whole thing because I refused to even get out of the car; (a) it was freezing cold and (b) they were all wrapped up so I couldn't tell what it was going to look like once we got it home and unwrapped it anyway. This story is getting really long winded so I'll try to get right to the Griswold point. We brought it in, put it up, saw that it was completely wonky (and that the needles were shedding faster than Talan can pull every ornament off of it when given ample opportunity) and had to load it up and take it right back the following day. And after all of that we ended up back at the same tree lot (in front of a grocery store), paying a million dollars (okay, so maybe a tad bit less) for a tree that deep down inside we knew we would end up with anyway. Lesson learned. I have to say, even though it was a grocery-store-front-lot I loved the whole experience. We drove through Starbucks before hand and grabbed coffee and caramel ciders (which also cost us close to a million dollars) and walked around the lot until we found the perfect tree. I felt at home in that lot! Once home, we baked cookies and made another batch of apple cider in prep for the tree decorating: Talan has taken to mocking his sister when we break out the camera. He cocks his head to the side and puts on his best pose. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em: Two crazy parents = two crazy kids: Lights off of the kids and onto the tree. Time to decorate: Thank God that candle is a fake: We only lasted about 20 minutes before we put Talan to bed. He is convinced that the ornaments are balls.....and that they are unbreakable. My life for the next 28 days is going to be H-E-double hockey sticks. And yes, I said 28 days. As in our tree will be in the front yard the day after Christmas. I am already having clutter-driven anxiety from all of the decorations and it's been a few hours. But back to the shiny happy part of this blog, here are Reese and Kevin putting the final touch on the tree. This is always one of my favorite moments throughout the whole tree decorating process: Okay, so I uploaded this next photo to show the finished tree. But in looking at it I'm seeing some wonk! The right side is definitely not up to par! Off to fix that now! "The most enduring traditions of the season are best enjoyed in the warm embrace of kith and kin. Thith tree is a thymbol of the the thspirit of the Griswold family Chrithmath. (Clark W. Griswold)" - Christmas Vacation