posted by erin on Dec 7
“OH NO!!!” and “What HAPPENED?” were not the reactions I was looking for this morning when the girls awoke. I had striven for more of a “WOW! That’s beautiful!” or “Oooohhh, it’s so sparkly!”
That was before it fell over in the middle of the night. The tree. It fell. All my ornaments scattered and strewn. Some broken. The lights half hanging off in a tangled web of mess. THREE HOURS of decorating. THREE HOURS of thoughtfully placing each and every one of my over 300 ornament in it’s perfect place to create a masterpiece. It really was. Before it fell.
I wanted to cry…in fact, I do believe there was a tear or two shed as I sat amongst the shattered ornaments and pine needles, wondering where to start. It was devastating. All that hard work for nothing. The stand is broken, so I can’t even redecorate until we get a new one which won’t be until tomorrow.
The weird thing is I awoke to the sound of an ornament dropping to the floor and rolling. I thought, “Ack, why does that stupid ornament keep falling off?”, but apparently it was a much louder commotion that woke Jer up. He goes flying out of our room and I’m all like, “Whoa, it’s just an ornament, no need to overreact, there, big guy!” He comes wandering back to our room looking decidedly dejected and I sit up with a vague sense of forboding.
“It fell over, didn’t it?” That’s the only reason I can think of for looking so down about the mouth.
In hind sight some of it was rather funny. I’m sitting there picking up all the pieces of glass and hooks, putting the ornaments that were still in tact in a box, letting loose a stream of swear words in my head, but Jer is just sitting there sleepily holding the tree up. For 10 minutes, he just sat there…blinking He had no idea what to do. I finished up and looked at him. ”You planning to sit there all night holding the tree? Cause I’m going back to bed.” I’m pretty sure he glared at me. Snarkiness reigns at 2 a.m.
He leaned it against the wall, dragged a t.v. up from the basement to set in front of the tree so that it didn’t slip, and crawled back in bed.
Then the girls woke up this morning and I cringed beneath my blanket as I heard their little footsteps going towards the living room. The collective gasp and exclamations were almost enough to send me careening into another fit of tears. Sigh.
Repeat after myself, “I love to decorate, I love to decorate, I love to decorate…”
December 7th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Ugh..what a pain!! Kind of ironic though, b/c in church this morning, the pastor told a story that the SAME thing happened to him and his tree!! They’ve now got it leaning against the wall.
December 7th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Oh man that so sucks!!
We might have a stand if you want to use it…I’ll get Conrad to take a look and see if we still have it somewhere
Hugs!
December 7th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
far out!!!!!!!!!!!!
wasnt it balanced very well???
how come it fell over???
how scary – if you hadnt guessed what it was
December 7th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
no! no! nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
i’m sorry.
December 7th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I know how that feels. One year our tree fell over TWICE and I have probably just as many ornaments as you. It was not fun at all!
December 7th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Oh no! How sad and frustrating. So I guess you’re getting lots of decorating practice this year, huh?
December 7th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
What a sad Christmas story!
December 7th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Oh my gosh! I almost cried on your behalf…I can’t imagine!
December 7th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I’m so sorry that happened. Hopefully you can get a stronger stand soon, and decorating the second time will be even better than the first.
December 7th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Erin,
I know its heartbreaking, but I think it happens to everyone at least once in their lifetime. Maybe that was YOUR once. And now never again!!
December 7th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
When I was growing up our tree was attached to the ceiling with fishing line every single year. It didn’t fall, and it caused a lot of interesting conversations, some mocking, but always entertainment. Maybe it’s time for Jer to break out the tackle box…
December 8th, 2008 at 8:19 am
oh no! how awful!
December 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I would have definitely cried. I have ornaments that go back at least 2 generations on my side and 3 on my husbands. In the end, it’s just “stuff” but the sentiment would have caused me to shed a tear.
Hope you have a good day today and that it doesn’t happen again!
December 8th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
ohhh! Poor tree! Poor Erin! Was it just a defective tree stand? or did it just tip over on it’s own?
If it makes you feel any better, I spent hours sitting on my roof hanging lights and now I can’t get the stupid timer to work to turn them on.
BTW, I love that Jer just stood there holding the tree. Sounds like something my hubby would do. They’re so cute when they don’t know what else to do.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Oh honey, I am so, so sorry! ~hugs~
December 8th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
oh erin I am so sorry, i know you will recreate a gorgeous masterpiece, but i am heartbroken with you about the fallen tree. big hugs
December 11th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Yikes! I can’t even imagine!
December 17th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Noooooooooo. What a nightmare. I’m all cught up (again). Hope you’re still enjoying your singstar. And is this the tree you picked at the garage first, or did those two men keep the one you picked and make you pick another?