The Kennedy Christmas Tree Saga

Gone are the days of Kennedy Christmas tree trauma/drama.  It used to be deliciously horrible, finding the tree.  There were complaining kids, muddy feet, frozen faces and the elusive perfect tree that hid for a good 2+ hours in the labyrinth of lesser trees.  Now, when we go and find the tree, it seems way too easy.  The kids love it, we laugh and have fun, and the time passes way too quickly.  Little did we know that this year the tree story would be a drawn-out, painful affair.

Ethan came home the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend.  Traditionally, we cut down our tree the day after Thanksgiving, but he wanted us to wait for him to get home, and he wanted Rebecca to be here.  So, against our better judgement, we waited until Monday to head out to the Christmas tree farm.  Thankfully, John was post-call and had the day off, and because it's the first day of rifle hunting season in PA, the girls also had the day off school (I know, it's a comical thought, but a fact).

I came armed with my camera, knowing that I needed to piece together a Christmas card that included everyone.  Johannah found our traditional Christmas-tree-finding garb of Santa hats, and we were off.

I didn't let Hannah get down the driveway without taking this photo of her.  Isn't she beautiful?

Glo

The girlies

Yes, I love taking pictures.

Reunited after THREE. LONG. MONTHS.

After 24 years, I love my husband more than I ever have.  He really is the best.

What would tree hunting be without ONE of the kids hopping in the cart, unbeknownst to John?

It took a good 30 minutes to find the tree this year.

Notice the smile?  It doesn't last for long...

I am seriously shrinking...

Yes, those are tears.  John had thrown an ICE BALL at Glo and hit her in the face.

The traditional cutting down of the tree.  This is usually a lengthy, stressful process.  John no sooner started sawing, and the tree just fell over.  Very anti-climactic.

Trying to make Glo happy again (she was holding a major grudge), John told Glo that she could throw an ice ball at him.  However, she refused, knowing that the guilt would fester.  John then turned the game into Jedi ice-ball throwing which Glo couldn't resist.  He wielded his saw like a light saber (complete with sound effects), and Glo started pitching.  In fact, I think others may have been involved in John's downfall, seeing as his eyes were closed.

Remarkably, he NEVER got hit in the face, defending himself with the sword like a true Jedi Master.  It was quite amazing!

We are so glad Ethan is home!

Because our house is so big (as well as the door), we always end up buying the wreath that the farm uses on its sign :-)

So, you would think all ends happily ever after, right?  WRONG-O!!

We took the tree home and started decorating the house.  Somehow (and I'm not sure how this happened), we didn't actually get around to decorating the tree.

In fact, our tree stood naked in our living room for almost a week!  It stressed me out like no other.  However, with out crazy, busy lives, there was no time for all five of us to decorate it.

The morning that we were leaving on the cruise, John angrily ordered Glo to decorate the tree.  By herself.  She got about eight ornaments on the tree then refused.  It just wasn't how tree decorating was supposed to be.  No carols, no happy family, no fire in the fireplace.

When John found out (as we were driving to Baltimore) that Glo hadn't finished it, the fur flew in the car!  Because, you know, nothing says "Merry Christmas" like fighting over the tree decorating!

So, I made everyone promise then and there that as soon as we walked in the door from the cruise,  we would do NOTHING but decorate that tree.  No eating, no opening mail, no watching TV.  Gosh darn it, we were going to decorate that STUPID tree!

We did.  We still had shorts on, and we might have even still been clearing our ears from a week of SCUBA diving, but for all things holy about the holidays, we did it.  Carols were playing and we were together as a family. It looks beautiful, and all is well.