The Lesson of the Christmas Tree

Every year since we were married, my husband and I go to a Christmas tree farm and chop down our own tree. I really look forward to this tradition each year; I love the holidays and it’s always been such a fun thing for us to do together. It is even more special to me now that we get to share the experience with our two daughters.
Here’s my husband and our oldest daughter one year:

 
Here’s a family selfie from another year:

 
Last year was the sixth year we set off to get our tree. We didn’t get to go to our usual Christmas Tree Farm, so we picked a smaller place and decided it wasn’t a big deal – a tree is a tree, after all, right?
We had a great day out selecting our tree. We got home, unpacked the kids from the car, got the tree off the roof and carried it into our living room. My husband set the tree into our stand, strung up all of the lights…and it was time to start decorating. Cue Christmas music, hot chocolate making, my kids both in a good mood, and me with a glass of wine – Yay, I look forward to this every year!
…But wait… that’s weird… I think to myself. “Is that a spider on the tree?” I ask my husband out loud. Yep, it definitely is. He grabs it off the tree, and we move on with decorating. Re-cue Christmas music, happy smiles, and my wine. But wait…That’s weirder…I think to myself again. “Didn’t you already kill that spider?” I ask my husband. He says that he did.
And he’s right – he just didn’t happen to get to AT LEAST TWENTY ADDITIONAL SPIDERS that I now see on my tree. That’s right – I only had one glass of wine at this point – my eyes were not playing tricks on me. There it was, a parade of little spiders, climbing up my Christmas tree and onto my living room ceiling. 

Two words – Crazy. Lady. 

My plans for an Instagram perfect, fire lit, family Christmas tree decorating night turned quickly into me becoming a crazy woman. I could not comprehend how a tree traveling on our roof (for 40 minutes) going 50 mph could still contain anything – (spoiler alert: IT CAN) –but THIS MANY spiders!? I tend to maybe overreact a bit sometimes (what can I say, I can’t help it) and this was no different. All I could think was: This is horrible, the night is ruined, and I’m going to have an infestation of spiders in every room of my house. Merry Christmas to me.
I told my husband (probably 58,903 times) that we had to get rid of this tree… RIGHT. NOW. My husband –the cool, calm and collected one –kept telling me that it was going to be okay. He killed what I deemed “The King” of our new spider friends – and then probably two more of equal size. He kept it together and, with a smile on his face, still decorated the tree. He kept my daughters excited about the tree without them even realizing there was a problem (good thing they didn’t notice mommy sitting there almost in tears and about to call bulk trash pickup to come take it away from my house.) He put the kids to bed as I refused to move from my “spider monitoring station”. He then sat with me (with a vacuum in hand) until almost 1 am until I was convinced there were no more spiders, that they were not going to eat us all alive, and that I decided my crazy woman watch could end. I’m sure he probably saw a bunch more that I didn’t even catch, but I’m pretty convinced he kept it quiet so that I wouldn’t get more upset. That’s real love right there, ladies.
We woke up the next morning to a spider-less tree and didn’t have an issue with them after that first night. (THANK. GOD.) Its funny how sometimes important life lessons come from things you don’t expect. Especially this time of year, we sometimes have things planned out in our heads that don’t necessarily turn out as perfect as we might think they will. Sometimes you get your cookie-cutter perfect Christmas tree decorating night, and sometimes you have a million spiders starting a convention on your ceiling – but, hey, it all turns out okay in the end. If you can focus on the good (like my awesome husband - who was MVP that night - and my two excited, wonderful girls) instead of the bad (like this self-professed crazy woman wielding a Dyson like a weapon until 1am) then it’s still a memory making night with family, which is the most important thing about the season after all. 

I hope you all have a fantastic holiday and remember to enjoy each tradition you share with your own family to the fullest – these moments with little ones are fleeting, and I know I need that reminder too. Happy Holidays to all! (…And remember to check for spiders.)