C
charlie,nj
Guest
Sad news in charlie,nj's house, we had a horrible accident in our living room on Sunday evening. Our beautiful Christmas tree took a tumble; there were ornaments all over the place. (OH THE ORAMENT-ITY!) What follows is the sad tale, for those of you who are Radko, Lenox, or dough ornament fans, please be warned it is not a pretty story.
On Saturday my wife came up with a weekend plan, she would take Nicholas our 2 year-old shopping and I would take Matthew our 7 year-old to get a real Xmas tree. We would set the Xmas tree up and decorate it all day Sunday. My wife's goal was to go to Fortunoff's and try and buy 2 Radko ornaments, the Millieum Munchkin and the Times Square. Shes been looking for them for a long time.
We had a fake tree for seven years now; we got it because we were afraid the kids would eat the pine needles of a real tree. (apple doesnt fall far from the tree) Well it started to get a little old looking, so this year we decided to get a real tree. Matt and I went out to our local Home Depot and picked out a nice tall(8 ft) and wide tree. We have 30-foot cathedral ceilings so the taller the tree the better. We brought "THE TREE", along with a fancy new-fangled tree stand. We roped "THE TREE" on the roof of our car (I refuse to follow the crowd and get an SUV) and drove it home. (big deal so it fell off twice) We set "THE TREE" up and couldn't wait for Mom and Nick to come home from shopping to see it.
They came home and were amazed at how great "THE TREE" looked. Mom was extra happy because she finally got her 2 Radko ornaments. She said she asked for the ornaments and was told they were sold out weeks ago. She gave the guy a sob story about how she wanted one for each of her boys. (I think she had Nick cry on cue) it worked, the guy said someone might have returned two the other day, he would go look. Well sure enough the guy returned with the 2 ornaments. She thanked him and purchased both of them. (Nicholas got a nice ice cream cone for crying on the spot.)
We were all psyched for Sunday the big decorating day. Cookies would bake in the oven, a fire would burn in the fireplace, Xmas music would play on the stereo, and Xmas specials would be watched on TV. (doesn't get any better than that and to top it off I was the hero for getting such a nice tree.) It turned out to be a great decorating day, everything went fine. (we were living a Bing Crosby Xmas special, right in our own living room.) My wife was saving the 2 Radko ornaments to hang on "THE TREE" for last. Before she did we cleaned everything up, after dinner my wife would ceremoniously place the Radko's on top of "THE TREE".
At 7:00 pm we all gathered around "THE TREE" and watched as my wife very carefully took the ornaments out of their boxes. (it reminded me of the Cratchit's gathered around their Xmas goose) She held them ever so gently while she climbed the small ladder to place them on "THE TREE". It was a sight to behold. "THE TREE" was done. It was breathtaking. (I think my wife was actually crying.)
Mom went in for a bath; Matthew went in for a shower. Nicholas and I sat on the sofa looking at Xmas cartoons. As I was sitting there looking at the tree, I thought it started to move, but that couldn't be, a tree couldn't just move by itself. (that only happens in the Wizard of Oz) Boy was I wrong, "THE TREE" was falling and it was coming straight for Nick and me. I had to make a split second decision do I save Nick or do I save "THE TREE". (my wife would give me grief no matter what I decided) Well I quickly pushed Nick out of the way and stood up and grabbed "THE TREE". (the play would have made the NFL commentaries top play picks on Monday) I grabbed "THE TREE" just when it was about 3 feet from the floor. Unfortunately the crashing noises had already begun.
My wife came running out of the bathroom yelling, "what's going on?" My son Matthew comes flying out of his bathroom to see "THE TREE" in my hands. He immediately flips out and starts to cry hysterically. He ran into his bedroom screaming "I'm sorry, I will be good, I will never do anything bad again". We later found out that he thought the tree falling was a bad sign from the Xmas Gods. He was sure that Santa was going to pass our house up.
My son Nicholas was jumping up and down on the sofa with his arms up in the air. He was yelling, "AGAIN, AGAIN, DO IT AGAIN". He was also singing his favorite song: "OH FIS MIS FEE, OH FIS MIS FEE" over and over again.
My wife Janina was in a state of shock. As I lifted "THE TREE" back to an upright position, the full damage could be seen. There were broken ornaments all over the carpet, but what was worse was that one of my wife's brand spanking new Radko ornaments hit the marble fireplace floor and broke into 1000 pieces. She was upset to say the least. She started crying over all of the carnage.
There on the floor my wife spotted the head of her Radko Millieum Munchkin ornament. It was the only surviving piece. It lay next to the headless body of a Christmas bear dough ornament in a field of shattered off-white Lenox crystal. (we got the bear 15 years ago on a trip to Boston)
Light bulb goes off in my head. I just found out what my wife wants for Christmas. Maybe "THE TREE" falling was not such a bad thing after all.
The floor looked like a beautiful color Xmas collage. Unfortunately it contained all of our broken Radko, Lenox, and dough ornaments. Don't worry DIS fans, our red glass Mickey ears ornament that we got on our last trip to WDW survived.
Postmortem:
It was my fault for getting such a tall tree.
It was my fault for not getting the right stand.
It was my fault for not putting up a support line.
It was my fault for not telling my DW to spread the ornaments out.
It was my fault for my wife placing the Radko's where she did.
It was my fault for buying a house with a marble fireplace.
It was my fault for breathing.
It was my fault for living.
Parent side note:
Maybe this tree falling thing will catch on as yet another great parenting tool. My Matthew is still on his best behavior since "THE TREE" fell.
Merry Christmas.
** This is a true story that I posted a few years ago. **
On Saturday my wife came up with a weekend plan, she would take Nicholas our 2 year-old shopping and I would take Matthew our 7 year-old to get a real Xmas tree. We would set the Xmas tree up and decorate it all day Sunday. My wife's goal was to go to Fortunoff's and try and buy 2 Radko ornaments, the Millieum Munchkin and the Times Square. Shes been looking for them for a long time.
We had a fake tree for seven years now; we got it because we were afraid the kids would eat the pine needles of a real tree. (apple doesnt fall far from the tree) Well it started to get a little old looking, so this year we decided to get a real tree. Matt and I went out to our local Home Depot and picked out a nice tall(8 ft) and wide tree. We have 30-foot cathedral ceilings so the taller the tree the better. We brought "THE TREE", along with a fancy new-fangled tree stand. We roped "THE TREE" on the roof of our car (I refuse to follow the crowd and get an SUV) and drove it home. (big deal so it fell off twice) We set "THE TREE" up and couldn't wait for Mom and Nick to come home from shopping to see it.
They came home and were amazed at how great "THE TREE" looked. Mom was extra happy because she finally got her 2 Radko ornaments. She said she asked for the ornaments and was told they were sold out weeks ago. She gave the guy a sob story about how she wanted one for each of her boys. (I think she had Nick cry on cue) it worked, the guy said someone might have returned two the other day, he would go look. Well sure enough the guy returned with the 2 ornaments. She thanked him and purchased both of them. (Nicholas got a nice ice cream cone for crying on the spot.)
We were all psyched for Sunday the big decorating day. Cookies would bake in the oven, a fire would burn in the fireplace, Xmas music would play on the stereo, and Xmas specials would be watched on TV. (doesn't get any better than that and to top it off I was the hero for getting such a nice tree.) It turned out to be a great decorating day, everything went fine. (we were living a Bing Crosby Xmas special, right in our own living room.) My wife was saving the 2 Radko ornaments to hang on "THE TREE" for last. Before she did we cleaned everything up, after dinner my wife would ceremoniously place the Radko's on top of "THE TREE".
At 7:00 pm we all gathered around "THE TREE" and watched as my wife very carefully took the ornaments out of their boxes. (it reminded me of the Cratchit's gathered around their Xmas goose) She held them ever so gently while she climbed the small ladder to place them on "THE TREE". It was a sight to behold. "THE TREE" was done. It was breathtaking. (I think my wife was actually crying.)
Mom went in for a bath; Matthew went in for a shower. Nicholas and I sat on the sofa looking at Xmas cartoons. As I was sitting there looking at the tree, I thought it started to move, but that couldn't be, a tree couldn't just move by itself. (that only happens in the Wizard of Oz) Boy was I wrong, "THE TREE" was falling and it was coming straight for Nick and me. I had to make a split second decision do I save Nick or do I save "THE TREE". (my wife would give me grief no matter what I decided) Well I quickly pushed Nick out of the way and stood up and grabbed "THE TREE". (the play would have made the NFL commentaries top play picks on Monday) I grabbed "THE TREE" just when it was about 3 feet from the floor. Unfortunately the crashing noises had already begun.
My wife came running out of the bathroom yelling, "what's going on?" My son Matthew comes flying out of his bathroom to see "THE TREE" in my hands. He immediately flips out and starts to cry hysterically. He ran into his bedroom screaming "I'm sorry, I will be good, I will never do anything bad again". We later found out that he thought the tree falling was a bad sign from the Xmas Gods. He was sure that Santa was going to pass our house up.
My son Nicholas was jumping up and down on the sofa with his arms up in the air. He was yelling, "AGAIN, AGAIN, DO IT AGAIN". He was also singing his favorite song: "OH FIS MIS FEE, OH FIS MIS FEE" over and over again.
My wife Janina was in a state of shock. As I lifted "THE TREE" back to an upright position, the full damage could be seen. There were broken ornaments all over the carpet, but what was worse was that one of my wife's brand spanking new Radko ornaments hit the marble fireplace floor and broke into 1000 pieces. She was upset to say the least. She started crying over all of the carnage.
There on the floor my wife spotted the head of her Radko Millieum Munchkin ornament. It was the only surviving piece. It lay next to the headless body of a Christmas bear dough ornament in a field of shattered off-white Lenox crystal. (we got the bear 15 years ago on a trip to Boston)
Light bulb goes off in my head. I just found out what my wife wants for Christmas. Maybe "THE TREE" falling was not such a bad thing after all.
The floor looked like a beautiful color Xmas collage. Unfortunately it contained all of our broken Radko, Lenox, and dough ornaments. Don't worry DIS fans, our red glass Mickey ears ornament that we got on our last trip to WDW survived.
Postmortem:
It was my fault for getting such a tall tree.
It was my fault for not getting the right stand.
It was my fault for not putting up a support line.
It was my fault for not telling my DW to spread the ornaments out.
It was my fault for my wife placing the Radko's where she did.
It was my fault for buying a house with a marble fireplace.
It was my fault for breathing.
It was my fault for living.
Parent side note:
Maybe this tree falling thing will catch on as yet another great parenting tool. My Matthew is still on his best behavior since "THE TREE" fell.
Merry Christmas.
** This is a true story that I posted a few years ago. **
BTW, this is my FIRST charlienj story! I look forward to the next one!
