How John Saved Christmas! (A true story.)

This Christmas story begins the Sunday before Thanksgiving where I, being the well planned out mother that I am, made my family get out our Christmas decorations before our trip since we wouldn't be getting home until Dec. 2nd. I am a firm believer in having Christmas decorations up for the entire month of December. I'm sure that the world would have imploded if our advent calendar had not been up and ready the moment we walked in the door on the 2nd...already a day behind. I digress.

Amidst the decorating and festivities, John and I were dreading getting out the tree. We have a hand me down 9 1/2 foot tree that is not pre-lit. I spend what seems like FOREVER getting lights on it every year. There are also broken branches that have to be placed precisely so as not to be too obvious. It didn't take much convincing when John told me we should just get rid of the old tree and buy a new one. I justified my hasty decision by telling myself that in our 8 years of marriage I have only spent $20 on Christmas trees. Plus, I had been eyeing one at Costco that had just been marked down $50. So instead of getting out the tree that night, John took the kids on Monday while I was at work to pick up the new tree.

When I got home that night the tree was set up in my living room and LIT...with out me doing anything! It was an amazing sight. Then we left for Thanksgiving with plans to decorate the tree with the kids on the night we got home. This is where our story takes a tragic turn. We got home and unpacked and ready to decorate the tree only to realize that a branch on the tree was broken! Yes broken! John then had the audacity to ask me if we could just keep the tree and turn the broken branch toward the wall. I of course said no. I mean, if I'm going to go out and get my first pre-lit tree that will last me forever, it had better start out perfect! So John, being the loving husband and father that he is rushed back to Costco, even though he had been in the car all day, to exchange the tree.
Here is where our story takes yet another tragic turn. Costco was out of my tree!!! John had to buy the broken tree back while I called another Costco. They had the tree in, but not for $50 off, or so the customer service representative said. I promptly told the customer service representative that I needed a tree. My kids were expecting to decorate a tree. My new tree from their store was broken. The other Costco was out of the tree. And that he'd better work some holiday magic and get me my tree for the sale price (that was a direct quote :). In the end, the customer service representative realized he was at fault and that the tree was still $50 off, and so John drove for another hour to get our tree, thus saving Christmas!

And, just for fun, here are some shots of when we actually got around to decorating my gorgeous, pre-lit, very realistic looking tree. (Although this almost didn't happen due to child misbehavior, but that's another story.)

Notice those life-like pine needles!

And just for fun...here is a pretty holiday shot that Yanira took of us at temple square. Don't my kids look well behaved!