I actually can't remember the celebration part of Christmas 2008 (grade 8) at all. Just the tree. I imagine we had a delicious dinner at Grampa and Grandma's house on Christmas day and Quaker Christmas either the week before or the week after. And we opened our stocking Christmas morning, had a delicious breakfast, opened presents, and spent the rest of the day figuring them out until Christmas dinner. Actually, that was the year I received my mp4 player! I've since upgraded to an actual iPod but still, it was pretty great. The BIG amazing thing about that year was the tree.
We went out to get it about two days before Christmas, so of course all the better trees were already taken. There'd also been a really heavy snow the day before and half the trees were buried in snow. Only it was packed down, so we didn't realize just how MUCH of the tree was hiding beneath the snow. So we were hiking around the tree farm, thinking all of the trees were way too small. When we found the perfect one, Dad began making his way around to flatten the snow, and then wedged himself underneath to start chopping. I guess we should half know it was going to be a problem tree when, half an hour later, he was still hacking. No. We kept going. Also, apparently, if we had gone back to the farmhouse, the man owning it would chop it down for us, but that thought's just depressing and really doesn't matter anymore.
You know how usually, to get it on top of the car, you have to get a bunch of guys together and hoist it up? We had to back into the tree. Really. I'm sure how that even worked, but we were there for a LONG time getting that tree on top of the van. And we had to borrow extra rope.
Okay, this is taking way too long and I have relatives over. The rest will be rushed.
Basically, the tree had two trunks, one of which Dad spent a LOT of time removing. We had to remove a lot of the top of the tree to fit it inside the house - even more the fit it inside the stand. By the time Dad finished trimming, we had more rejected branches sitting on the front porch than we had on the actual tree. Still, it looked like a bush. It was the first year we've ever used all of the Christmas lights for the tree - we didn't have any left to decorate the cedar branches along the outside, or the fake branches on the stairway or kitchen arch. We used ALL the lights. And beads. Not a single bead rope was left out. We often skip the gold beads because they make the tree look too cluttered. Not this time. And ornaments. Normally we put some of the handmade ornaments hanging somewhere else because they're too big for the tree. Not this time. It was also so thick that there was very little space beneath for presents.
All decorated, it did look like a Christmas tree. In fact, it looked like the BEST CHRISTMAS TREE EVER!!! We've never chopped our own tree since - they're all from Fincher's now, but that tree was definitely the best one we've e
ver had. It doesn't really look as amazing in the picture - but it was great.
ver had. It doesn't really look as amazing in the picture - but it was great.