Bam-Bam Christmas, Now-or-Later assembly

Putting up Christmas trees has never been one of my favorite tasks. There are so many little issues upon which you can fail: the looks of the tree, the functionality of the tree stand, the placement of what always turns out to be a decoration much larger than expected, and the proper installation of lights, ornaments, garland, tinsel, popcorn strings, etc. With so much room for error the entire process can be frustrating. Once it is done there are maintenance issues of a “real” tree. I do not call it “live” because any tree cut from its trunk cannot qualify as a live tree.


Last year Mama and I got an artificial tree – a fake tree. I insisted so she relented under protest. I am very happy with the tree, her not so much. So now that Thanksgiving is over, the pleading has begun again for a real tree even though we do not have any room for one and would have to outfit the entire arrangement. I no longer have a tree stand. They are so difficult to store I threw the last one away to make room for Beanie Babies.

My girls, however, still buy a tree every year. Cori is no exception. She and Nate got a tree last week and have been slowly outfitting it, complete with a train that runs around the middle part of the tree; flashing lights, billowing smoke and a train whistle to impress the children. I am not sure how much effort my son-in-law took to get it set up right – straight, branches out just so, bare spots to the back, etc., but I can imagine since it is my daughter he is married to.

Shortly after the tree was in place and before any decorations had been added my grandson, Grant, decided that there was something amiss. At the mature age of two, he probably could not have vocalized his concern, but he saw a way to make the adjustments himself. He went to his bedroom and got his baseball bat and proceeded to fix what was wrong – until his mother stopped him. I am not sure if he finished his alterations, but he knew pretty certainly that he would have to live with what was there for the remainder of the season.

Later on, as they were making cookies, my daughter set out some candies to put on top of the cookies – M&M’s, sprinkles, etc. I think she set out fifteen or so items per child and when the cookies were done the assembly was set in order.

Mykenzie did pretty well. She likes decorating. Grant did not do so well. He likes eating. Adorning what is to be eaten is pretty low on his priorities. In the end my granddaughter’s cookies looked very nice while my grandson’s cookies were pretty plain. He had eaten most of the toppings during the decorating phase.

Later, he ate his cookies, but he really wanted hers.