Pass the Pepto

This Thanksgiving was not quite the dream of a holiday that you plan for all year. Jared had a nice long weekend since he got off work early on Wednesday and didn't need to go back in until Monday, but unfortunately, the entire time he was off, one of us was sick. We had some sort of stomach bug that made its way to each of us. On Thursday and Friday it was me, which meant that I couldn't enjoy any of the meal on Thanksgiving with my dad's family and I had to skip out on the meal with my mom's family because I didn't want to get the other baby who would be there sick. By Saturday I was feeling better, but Charlotte and Jared were not. We had some friends over to watch the Florida/Florida State game, and while they were popping Vitamin C drops throughout the night they had a front row view of both Charlotte and Jared throw up. Sorry about that Ryan and Anette! By Monday everyone was healthier and I sanitized the house with bleach and Lysol. Hopefully we have rid the home of all the germs!

On Friday afternoon I was feeling well enough to go pick out our Christmas tree though. Last year Charlotte was born the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and on Thanksgiving evening we ended up at WalMart getting one (my mom and stepdad came up and they had driven their truck. We figured it would be easier to fit the tree in there than the Camry or Thunderbird we had at the time). This year we wanted to start a tradition of going to cut our own from a tree farm. We left at 3:00, got halfway there and realized we forgot to bring a blanket to put underneath the tree so it would not scratch the roof of the van. We went home and got the blankets, turned around and headed back to the farm. We drove up and were a little hesitant by the trees we were seeing. Although some were very nice, they were not the kind of trees that we had in mind. It was a "Mom and Pop" type of place with an older couple running it and there was only one other customer there. We walked around for a bit, debating on if it would be possible to leave without a tree and not offend them. Earlier in the day we had talked about one year buying a potted tree that we could plant in the yard when Christmas was over. So Jared came up with the great idea of asking if they had any potted trees. We asked, but they didn't have any. Apparantly you need a nursery license for that and they were strictly a "choose and cut" type of place. So we were able to leave without buying a tree without offending them for us not liking their stuff :)

On the way back to the house we decided we wouldn't need to tie the tree on top of the van. We could just take the seats out and it should fit inside. So when we got home Jared took care of that and I called the WalMart we bought the tree from last year to make sure they had them again this year. The answer I got was, "Yeah, I would think so." Sounds really confident, right? Well we went there, and thankfully, they did have them. We had a few other things to pick up and by the time we left WalMart with our tree, it was well past 6:00. Three hours to get the tree... not too bad [insert a smiley rolling its eyes here]. We found out after all of this that the pretty fir trees that we think of when we hear "Christmas tree" don't grow down here. So the Christmas tree farms are only good for the bushier pines that aren't as pretty :/

The rest of Friday evening was spent watching Elf and decorating the tree. I started with the lights, then Jared laughed at me for how long I was taking. So I told him if he wanted to, he could do it. He said he would but that he wouldn't take as much time and the top half of the tree wouldn't match the bottom. I said I didn't care so he took over. When I realized how right he was, I quickly took the reigns back. :) And then a few minutes later, the tree came toppling down.



After a few hours, we had the tree up, securely in the stand, lights all on (in such a way that met my standards:), and the decorations on! So it wasn't quite the perfect day we had planned and the tradition of getting the tree from WalMart just doesn't have the same cozy feel as traipsing through the woods to find that perfect tree, but at least it's much more convenient.



On a side note, last year we bought our tree on Thanksgiving day and this year on Black Friday. Both times we went to WalMart in the evening and the store was practically empty. Much nicer than fighting the crowds that come along with this time of year!