So naturally we headed back for more laughs this year with our friends Malorie and Jason, who came along last year too. The farm experience was just as hilarious as last year as the guys pulled our cart and carried our saw in search of our perfect trees.
On the lookout for the perfect tree... |
Malorie and I watching as the guys assess the trees |
The tree took about 10 minutes to saw down because it was so large, and then Jason and John broke out in a rash all over their arms from trying to saw the thing down.
John proudly conquered cutting down our tree! |
And then when we returned home (after taking 20 minutes to tie the tree to the roof of the car), it took 45 minutes to secure in our stand. Jason held the tree upright while John tightened it in the stand. Meanwhile, Malorie and I were rearranging our living room furniture because the tree took up half the room. It blocked the entire entrance to the dining room, and the angel would have been knocked off the top by the fan.
Needless to say, this tree was MASSIVE.
12 feet tall and way too wide. Now affectionally called the Devil Tree. |
Right after Malorie and Jason left to decorate their own tree, John turned me saying, "I hate it. It's awful." It was rather lopsided, and we would have to get a big ladder in order to hang lights and ornaments. But we decided to go make dinner and think on it.
Then, CRASH.
Tree down |
The tree came falling down, barely missing the ceiling fan, clay nativity set on the mantle, and our lamp. But nothing was broken miraculously, and no ornaments had been hung yet.
Next thing I knew, John was dragging the tree outside to our yard. He'd had enough of the "Devil Tree." We hopped in the car, headed to Lowe's, and picked out a beautiful 6 foot tree. We watched in awe as they sawed the bottom off evenly for us and trimmed the bottom branches. SO EASY. We folded the seats down in my SUV, threw it in, and had the tree up and decorated in no time.
Our new smaller but beautiful tree! |
Our friends are still laughing, comparing our story to the Christmas Vacation movie. And my parents think it's hilarious that I never fully appreciated the work that went into cutting down our tree when I was a kid.
So if you know anyone in need of a 12 foot Christmas tree in Atlanta, we have one sitting in our yard that they can take free of charge!
It is Shackelford tradition for the Christmas tree to fall at least once during the season! Make sure John tells you the story of one Christmas where we tied it to our stair railing after it had fallen repeatedly and broken more than several ornaments overnight! Got to love my son's huge Christmas tree heart!! xoxo
ReplyDeletehaha yes, John told me about tying the tree to the stairs! I know we'll be laughing about this year's adventure for years to come! :)
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