The Adventure of the Leaning Christmas Tree

Today we woke up around 9 and went to Lowe's to buy a Christmas tree. We don't have room in our house to store a fake one, so we have to buy live. Plus, Helen really likes the smell of a live tree. I do too, but Helen really does.

Anyway, we get to Lowe's and look around for the perfect tree. It was cold and there were tons of trees. We were looking through the $20 price range, and we found a great one.

We carried it to the people who worked there and they trimmed and baled it. The only problem is they cut it too short, which would cause problems later.

We put it in the truck, and instead of tying it down well, I decided I'd drive really slow. After an uneventful trip home (no flying trees or anything) we dragged the baled tree to the top of our stairs.

Once we got it inside, we set it up in the stand. As it turns out, the guys at Lowe's trimmed the bottom too short, and it wouldn't sit all the way down in the stand. So we had a leaning problem.

So very patiently and intelligently, we decided to use our bolt cutters to trim the bottom of the tree. You see, the branches at the bottom were thick, and we had nothing else. So we trimmed and trimmed and trimmed. But the tree just wouldn't sit right. So I got out the pliers and tightened those bolts down, hoping that the tree would finally give in to our persistence.

Eventually we won the struggle and the tree sits in our living room.

The next thing we had to was decorate it. It didn't take long, seeing as we don't have many ornaments. (Don't worry, this wasn't something we were disappointed about. Remember, the more you put on, the more you have to take off.) So we decorated the tree and prepared ourselves to watch the aggies BTHO tu.

Wouldn't you know it? during the game, the tree begins to lean... and not slighlty. So what did I do? I got out my pliers and tightened that bad boy down even more. The tree hasn't fallen yet, and the aggies prevailed against the dark side, 12-7.