If You Give A Boy An Axe: A Christmas Tree Story

Lessons come along all the time, even when you're just busy living life
and don't see 'em coming...

Last Saturday, we piled the whole family into the Sub
layered with winter coats, gloves, hats and scarves
bundled up for the wintry weather, with the temperatures in the low teens
and a few inches of snow on the ground and still falling

then headed out to cut our own Christmas tree at a local tree farm.

Where we walked and walked and walked around
several acres looking for the perfect tree.

See every one's faces?
Cold and frozen, but happy!

The problem was evident for me
as soon as we got to the tree farm--
these were not the kind of trees
I was expecting--
most were easily over 20' high.

But, we were hoping to find
just one
to claim as our own.

After a half hour in the below-freezing temps,
the oldest kids took the babies and headed back to the car...
I was ready to go too,
as I realized there simply wasn't a tree there
that would fit.
There was just one problem--
when you give a 12 year old boy an axe
in a forest of trees,
he's going to want to use it.
Ain't that the truth?
It's hard to tell an axe-carrying boy
that he can't use it.
even if he might not understand that a 20' tree in nature isn't going to look like--
a Christmas Tree at home.
I told him we could go to Home Depot and get one there,
but he didn't want that choice--
not when he's got a perfectly good axe in his hand.
So,
Mr W and I stayed in the forest and walked around
until we came across one that seemed the best choice
and I was too frozen and tired to keep looking:

We gave Joseph the "go ahead"
and he was thrilled!

Chop, Chop, Chopping with the axe at first

Then the little saw,
provided by the tree farm guy:

It was tricky for a novice lumberjack:

This is the tree as it stood in the earth:

Same tree, cut in half, as it stood in our dining room,
because it was too huge to fit in the family room, after we'd added lights:

It was pretty awful.
Still,
we'd just watched
"A Charlie Brown Christmas"
the night before,
so we put on our thinking caps
and decided we'd make do with our
"Charlie Brown Tree"--
I was determined to make it beautiful!

But, we only had 3 strands of lights that worked,
because until this year, we had a pre-lit artificial tree
and didn't really know how many strands of lights we own.

I had a can of "snow" that I thought would add "something"--
I didn't know what that something might be,
but something.
Nope, still awful, pitiful, even.

There were so few branches
and so many "holes"
we thought adding some fabric garland might fill it in,
so I got some out and Dani and Nana and I began ripping it into shreds
and tying it in knots
going for a "primitive country" look:

We sang and laughed our guts out
and put on happy "who-cares" kinda faces.

Poor Joseph,
realizing that his desire to cut a tree
overshadowed what the tree's purpose was,
felt awful.
"Mom, can we please go to Home Depot and get a different tree?"
He asked several times.
I shook my head and said,
"No, this is what we have and we'll make do."
Diana added, "It doesn't matter how ugly the tree is,
there's still going to be presents under it."
The girls and I kept adding ornaments to it
until there was nothing more left to do.
I stood back,
shrugged my shoulders
"it is what it is"
and started cleaning up.

Joseph had gone to his room feeling disappointed.

So did Mr. W and I.

I kept my thoughts to my self overnight
wondering what to do.
Christmas is a celebration and
this was not going to add to the celebration
at all.
Not the way I wanted to start it,
at least.

So,
in the morning,
when Mr W and I were lying in bed awake,
I suggested that he take Joseph to Home Depot
and the two of them choose a better tree for the family
to help Joseph sort of redeem himself.
Mr W agreed.

Last night they did just that
and brought home a beautiful tree that we'll decorate tonight
after dinner.

The lessons have been learned.
Keep the big picture in mind.
Don't be blinded by what's in front of you,
when you've got an axe in your hand.
Respect nature--
it's not going to change once you get your hands on it,
no matter what.
Charlie Brown's tree was magic.
Thank goodness for do-overs!