Trimming the Tree again, and again...

I can't wait until next year when this picture includes all three of you girls. The house just isn't ready for Christmas until the tree is up and decorated. Your sisters did a great job putting up ornaments while you watched the magic from afar.

Later that day I had placed you in the Bumbo to sit and enjoy the view as I read books with Eleanore while Charlotte was still asleep. You started getting a little fussy so I picked you up to read with us. It's a good thing I did!! Only five minutes after I got you out of the seat the tree fell right on top of it shattering ornaments left and right!!

As devastating as it was to lose some of our favorite ornaments, I was more upset that you had just been sitting where the tree was now lying. I swept up the mess, salvaged the ornaments that I could, and your Daddy helped me put the tree back up in our old tree stand (since the new one had bent).

An hour or so later I noticed that the sheets underneath the tree were soaking wet. I took a closer look and realized that the old, plastic tree stand was leaking all over our wood floor. So, you, your sisters and I headed to Menards to pick up a new one. We got the best one they had, but it was only $17 and still made of plastic. We brought it home and Daddy and I put the tree up...again.

While you three were sleeping, I finished trimming the tree for the third time and went back into the laundry room to fold clothes. Not five minutes later I heard a crash. You guessed it...the tree had fallen again. I woke your Daddy up who was growling and cursing at the tree under his breath.

This time we didn't take any chances. We brought up Daddy's weight set and set it in the corner behind the tree. We tied a rope through the tree and attached it to the weights and set an extra set of 35 pound weights on the base of the tree stand for good measure.

We may have bought a dud with a curved trunk, but we jimmy-rigged it enough to last through Christmas. It has a considerable lean to it, but that just gives it character, right?

Moral of the story, Gabrielle...NEVER buy a tree with a curved trunk, and spend the extra money for a good, solid tree stand! We won't be making that same mistake again!!