The Christmas Scramble

Earlier, it was our understanding that we would be spending Christmas pretty much alone this year and therefore we decided to do very little decorating, then the plans changed.  After our week of looking after the Walker girls at Ft. Bragg, we ended up bringing them home while their dad attended to some other requirements.  He wasn’t sure when he’d come in to pick them up until I advised we’d be serving smoked prime rib and he immediately said the deal was sealed and they would all be here for Christmas.

Having kids at Christmas put us in a whole new ball game and when we got home, my buddy Joe came over and we prunned (needed it badly) and cut the last Norway Spruce we’d been saving for a kids Christmas.  We'd planted several about 10 years ago for this use.  Here's the before and after.

After cutting it, we trimmed up the top and tied the two stems together, not too bad for a couple of old guys.

After pruning, we still had a tree that was nearly 10' tall and over 7' wide, which we had to get through a 3' door and trees that big have branches that don't bend that easily.  With me pulling and him pushing, we finally got it in the house and set on the stand and then Joe relaxed with his pup.

With some more prunning, it was ready to decorate.  I took a little more off the bottom after this shot.

Then we had to drag out the decorations and trim the tree - except for the top part, Bev and the kids did the decorating.  All of this for just one tree.

Considering the pine blob we started with, it turned out pretty good and now it looks more like Christmas around here.  As you can see, Bev likes to have an ornament on nearly every branch - sometimes two.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.  Header photo info.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Peppermint Bark Christmas Candy

Two years ago: Christmas Tree Finally Up

Larry