A long time ago..1990 to be exact.. I had a dream. No not one of those Christmas nightmares either. We were living at the resort..one area of the house had really tall ceilings..I wanted a really tall tree to go in there..why should I let the short seven foot ceilings in the living room restrict me?
I found the perfect tree..it was near the edge of the swamp..I loved it..it had lots of cones in the top..and oh my was it tall. I had to wait for Far Guy and his chain saw... I was so excited..everything was going to be just perfect..I could see myself dangling on a ladder stretching for the highest branches..just like in the movies..maybe I would even put a dress and heels on and everything..make up too ( that is a stretch) ..but I had a lot of imagination back then. The winters are long in Minnesota. Plus that when I get it all decorated to the hilt..someone can take a photo of everyone in front of the tree..what a dreamer I was.
Finally the weekend came, Far Guy commuted back then, he left in the dark and came home in the dark..his commute was 85 miles one way..what a trooper he was..working in the city to allow his girls the best of country life! Of course I could run the chain saw..if a tree was down..if it was tall and huge and still in the air..I would chicken out. It was perfect..it came down in one fell swoop..the dogs and I always waited in a spot of safety and they would sit by me and wait until the tree was on the ground then they would run and bark...silly dogs..there were four of them..all Shelties. I was so happy..my tall tree was going to be a reality!!
Then Far Guy did the unthinkable..he trimmed my beautifully tall tree to about seven feet tall..I began to bawl.. it WAS perfect..now it had been detrunked. Apparently he had not been listening or I had not stated loud enough that I wanted a huge honkin tall tree in the hall..one that reached the ceiling..and the ceiling was about 12 feet tall. He offered to tape it back together with duct tape..how sick is that? He offered to cut down another tree..now that would have been wasteful..so I settled for another Ho Hum Yup it is a real tree and it will smell good and the needles will drop all over the floor and I will have to remove pitch from the floor. The cats will think that it is tall enough to climb anyway..they often perched in our Christmas Trees like real live ornaments.
Ho Hum Bah Humbug..
The girls posed for a photo that year..they were eighteen and fifteen..I was a real pain in the butt Mom..can't you tell by the expressions on their faces? I was a pretty rotten photographer back then too.
We needed a little kid to perk things up..one with the wonder of Christmas in his eyes.. my Nephew Jacob was perfect..and my Mothers tree was perfect that year too.
Now that the upstairs is completed..I told Far Guy about my dream again..I also mentioned it to one of my daughters..they both think it is silly to want a tree that reaches all the way to the ceiling...my son in law thought it was a pretty cool idea..he offered to find one for me and drag it into the house..tall and whole. What a guy! Our very wise daughter said "Mother, you know a real tree is just going to lose its needles and get caught in the carpet and when you walk barefoot up there you will get needles in your feet...and the pitch..don't forget about the pitch Mom." So..even though my upstairs is completely done..including drapes....it does not have a tall tree this year..we are going to look for a fake obnoxiously tall tree after the Holidays..maybe even one on sale. One that I will need a ladder to decorate.. a tree large enough to hold my entire collection of Shiny Brite ornaments ..wouldn't that be a treat!
Talking about treats..the grands will be descending on us about ten o'clock this evening..and there is a storm coming..so we could be snowed in for days :)
