Spruce Down!

Last night we finally got around to decorating this year's Christmas tree. We had actually bought it a week and a half ago on what we thought was going to be the last warm day of the year and then let it hang out on the back deck until putting it up in the living room on Saturday. However, after laying down on the deck for almost a week some of the branches had compressed, so we wanted the tree to have a couple days to settle and unfurl to its full potential. Therefore, it took us until last night to finally string lights and over-load it with ornaments. We even took the extra step of rigging up a light so that the Santa on top of the tree would light up for the first time in two decades. So, even though we got it done later than usual this year and it covered my arms in sap which ripped patches of arm hair out as I tried to clean it off, it turned out to be a very nice looking tree... Until this this morning, when I awoke to the news that at some point in the night the tree had toppled over.

Rushing downstairs I found the tree slumped into the middle of the living room, like a roommate who came home from a night of bar-hopping and couldn't quite make it to a couch. And, just like what happens when you find that roommate in the morning, forcing the tree back up onto its feet didn't suddenly make the situation all better. It must have fallen over pretty early, because the side of the tree which was on the floor (which was also the side of the tree with all the ornaments) had taken on a slightly crush, disheveled look. As a bonus, because I had filled the tree stand the night before, not only was the carpet wet, but the padding underneath was also damp. Fortunately, we had just gotten a few new Sham-Wows and while they didn't completely dry everything out, they did help in the fight. A quick assessment of the situation leads me to believe that we did a sup-bar job of centering the tree in the stand. This bothers me to no end, because in all my years I don't think I have ever had a tree fall over on me before. Perhaps we had gotten cocky with all our past success.

Sadly, even though we re-centered the tree in the stand (actually, to be honest, now it probably leans a little towards the back wall) and did our best to reorganize the ornaments and lights, it still just doesn't look quite right. Definitely not as nice as it did pre-fall. My only hope is that with a several hours to adjust being back upright it reverts to the way it was before spending the night on the ground. Because, as of right now, it looks like this was a cartoon and someone just hit the front of our tree with a frying pan. And even though I am confident it isn't in danger of falling over again, I'm still going to give it a few hours before I risk re-filling the stand with water. Also, I may keep my eyes peeled for one of those self-levelling tree stands to go on a post-Christmas sale.