This weekend we took our brood to pick out the Christmas tree, which is a family adventure we all look forward to. We got a later start in the day than I would have liked, and so the first place we went, the attendants yelled out “All we have left are Charlie Browns!” And the kids and I burst out laughing….

You see, a number of years ago, just after M and Z’s father and I went our separate ways, I found myself with two young children and completely broke. And of course I was too proud to tell anyone, especially my folks, about our bad money management.

It was just before Christmas and the kids were with their dad for the afternoon. I was trying to keep their life as “normal” as possible despite the circumstances. So I took what money I had left over after buying the essentials, and went to buy a tree. After all, we had always had a live tree before.

I went to one of these parking lots run by the boy scouts, where the trees are all propped up next to each other. And I found the perfect tree. Well, it was perfect because I could afford it. They bound it up and I happily took it home. I wanted to have it in the stand when the kids came home, so that we could all decorate it together.

Then I got a better look at it and realized it only had branches on one side, and even then it was pretty sparse. Plus it was also a bit tall for the space. Ah! I had a great idea.

I went and got the saw from the shed and cut the bottom third off the tree, and put the top part in the stand. Then I lopped the branches off the bottom part, and with a little superglue (doesn’t that stuff stick anything together?), and the creative use of some tinsel I attached the branches to the tree in the places with the biggest gaps. By the time the kids came home it looked fantastic. And the look on their faces when they walked through the door was priceless.

So we played Christmas music, strung lights, hung ornaments and drank hot apple cider. Then we sat down to just stare at the pretty tree - our little work of art.

As the evening wore on, and the weight of the ornaments, the heat of the tree lights and the heat in the living room took effect, slowly but surely the attached limbs began to droop.

At first the kids didn’t notice, but I watched as a wilted branch sagged onto the branch below. I hoped it was just a malfunctioning spot of superglue and that the rest would hold - at least till the kids went to bed.

But when that first branch hit the floor there was no covering it up. And I will never forget the look of horror on those little faces.

When the second and third branches (and accompanying ornaments) fell to the floor, the kids looked at each other and burst into giggles. We then all sat mesmerized as, one by one, my attached appendages unattached themselves and ended up in various stages of droop or drop.

It is one of those bittersweet memories I’ll never forget.

After the kids went to bed, I did what I could to make the best of our one-sided tree. But from that year on, they have insisted on picking out the Christmas tree. And who am I to disagree?

So, here’s to Charlie Brown Christmas Trees everywhere….. May your branches never droop!

Tags: bittersweet memories, buying a christmas tree, charlie brown, charlie brown christmas, charlie brown christmas tree, family holidays, perfect christmas tree

This entry was posted on December 17, 2007 - 1:56 pm and is filed under Kidsters, Fam Damily, Misty Water Colored Memories.... You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.