Christmas Tree

For those of you who don't know, purchasing a Christmas tree from a farm is a huge Downey Family tradition. Fake or lot purchased just aren't good enough. It's not Christmas without the trip out the farm to find the best tree and then chopping it down. Andy has welcomed the tradition for the past four years, and gets more into it every year. For the past two years we have gone with my parents to place in New Berlin. Finding the "perfect tree" is always the challenge. This year Andy and I decided to go taller, and fatter.

Well, we found our tree! 9 feet tall and probably 6-8 feet around (I know you think I'm exaggerating, but come see the tree in our living room). It is Goliath. I think we got a little too excited about getting a fat tree. Oh well...it's beautiful!


Here is my sexy tree cutter. I am surprised I got him to smile, because he had just laid on some cactus. I am a huge lover of cactus, so they are now a part of my planter family. Buy a tree...take home cactus for free.


Big tree + Big Trunk = two men to cut it down. What you don't see is my mom is on the other side of the tree pulling to help the process along. Me, I'm standing by watching...what? Every job needs a supervisor!


The End Result....

A beautiful tree!!

Thank you mom and dad for coming up to help get the tree in the stand and for working on light replacing. Thank you sweet husband for embracing my love of freshly cut trees and working so hard to make it perfect.


THE FALL!!!

Shortly after I took this last picture, the unthinkable happened. at 5:50PM my tree came crashing down. We don't know what caused it. All I know is I was walking into the kitchen and the next thing I see is the tree falling to the ground. For most, this would be a problem, for me, it was a tragedy. My whole life I have received an ornament from my mom and from my grandmother every year. So I have well over 50 meaningful and well loved ornaments. Andy, knowing that the Christmas Tree and the ornaments that decorate it are the center of my Christmas decorating and love, has added to the ornament giving and gives me an ornament every year. We have also started a Garcia family tradition where we purchase an ornament from every place we travel to. Well, our house is tile....Tile and glass and porcelain ornaments do not mix well. As tears filled my eyes, my husband rushed to save the tree, and my devastation. After calming me down (the best he could) we started to pick up the wreckage.

First, we fixed the tree. It is now attached in several places to fishing line and nailed (discreetly) to the door frame. This tree isn't going anywhere.

Second, I began going through the broken ornaments. Among the casualties....
- A precious moments ornament (I am a collector of precious moments)
- a Tiffany's & Co. crystal wreath that my dance team gave me two years ago
- Santa's Workbench ornament
- A few balls (surprisingly most of the cheap balls survived)

Sorry for the long sob story, but this has rocked my little world. I am thankful that only a few were lost and that again, my wonderful husband came to the rescue! We are currently working an putting the lights and ornaments all back in order.