In Which I Am Pleasantly Surprised

We put up our tree last night, much to the kids' excitement. Audrey carefully chose where to hang each of her ornaments, while Nathan just wanted to hang them all on one branch and knock them together like bouncy balls. (This is exactly why I invested in several packages of shatterproof ornaments. I would like to avoid disasters like last year.)

I'm not a big fan of our current artificial tree. It was a replacement for the one we had previously, which sadly rusted in an outdoor storage room. That one was nice and didn't look quite so artificial. This one, however does not have the plump branches as were advertised on the side of the box. But I put up with it until we either buy a nicer fake one or shell out the money for a real one.

Which brings me to today. I'm still recovering from this stupid cold (you know, the ones that NEVER. GO. AWAY.) and Ammon had taken today off as well as part of his long weekend. So he takes The Girl to school for me and runs out to do a few errands, When he finally got home, he goes into the living room and starts taking all the ornaments and garlands down, saying he needed to move the tree.

"Where are we going to move it?" I asked. I am not on the quick uptake here, thanks to Mr. Stupid Cold.

He just looks at me and waits. Lightbulb in 3...2...1...

Then it clicks. "Oh, did you get a new tree?" (I'm thinking, yay, a nicer fake one! I can do that!)

I then looked out the window and what did I see...

A REAL tree tied to the top of the car!

Yes, my inner child squealed with joy.

I didn't waste any time getting the tree stand (that I got for 90% off last year, thank you) and everything else ready while he prepped the tree.

And oh, that smell. I haven't smelled that smell since our first Christmas when we bought a tiny tree and shoved it into the back of the Geo Metro. There is no candle, no scentsy, no air freshener that can duplicate the smell of a Christmas tree.

But of course, Audrey said in her typical manner, "What's that smell? I don't think I like it."

(You will LIKE it if you know what's good for you!)

I think we had it redecorated in less than a hour.

It's HUGE, it's AWESOME, and I love it.