I had some great expectations for our Christmas tree tradition the year our son Parker was 11, Mason was 9, and our daughter Avri, was 7. The days of diapers and car seats were behind us. Our kids were at that stage where we could still plan family activities, and they could help out.
We have a family tradition of getting a live Christmas tree, and the boys and I put the Christmas tree in the stand. My wife Erica likes the lights in a particular way, so she sets up the lights, and then the kids put all the ornaments on. Voila—there is the Goodlet family Christmas tree!
Everything started well enough that year. Our family went to our favorite holiday location—Lowes. My expectations were big, so I splurged for a big tree. It was the kind of tree that didn’t fit in the van. We had to strap it to the top. The kids were excited as we rode home with a huge tree on top of our family vehicle. They asked if we could set up and decorate the tree that night.
It was a school night, but I thought we could get the tree done if everyone worked together. So we pulled into our driveway, the van doors swung open, and the kids excitedly ran to help with the tree. They were so excited, in fact, two of them ran into each other! My daughter, Avri, busted her forehead, and my wife (who is a nurse) had to see if she needed stitches. The fun of the night was over. My boys and I quietly put the tree on the tree stand and went to bed.
My wife was scheduled to work late the next day, so she put the lights on the tree before work. However, she ran out of lights since I bought a bigger tree this year. So, after I picked up the kids from school, we stopped at the store to buy more lights.
As we drove home with our new boxes of Christmas lights, the kids informed me that the multicolored lights we bought had purple bulbs, but the multicolored lights on our tree did not. And we could NOT mix the multicolored lights with purple with the multicolored lights without purple bulbs on the tree; it would ruin Christmas!
So, we came up with a plan. We would take a few strands off our bushes and swap them out with the new strands. Then, we would put the multicolored lights with no purple bulbs on the Christmas tree.
My sons and I started removing light strands from the bushes. My daughter, Avri, had gone into the house. After a little while, I went inside to check on her. She was beside the Christmas tree with a strand of lights in her hand; she had taken half the lights off the tree.
Avri had misunderstood the plan. When she realized removing the lights wasn’t as helpful as she had thought, she ran upstairs crying. As I was going to console her, I heard the boys yelling outside.
As Parker pulled a strand off the bushes, it broke in half, sparked, and all the outside lights went out!
So I consoled the kids, and then we found the lights that still worked and finished taking the strands off the bushes. We put the multicolored strands with purple bulbs on the bushes and collected the non-purple strands for the Christmas tree. When my wife got home, she patiently put all the lights on the tree again.
Finally, our Christmas tree was lit! We had a half an hour before the kid’s bedtime. We were ready for the kids to put the ornaments on the tree. For a moment, it looked like the picture I had in my head, and we would fulfill my expectations of what decorating the Christmas tree would be like.
In that half hour, the kids told stories, we laughed, and everyone had a great time! The tree was almost done, so my wife and I decided we would let our kids stay up and finish. It was at that moment the Christmas tree fell over! Ornaments were rolling on the ground, and water spilled everywhere—I looked at my kids and said, “Go to bed.”
I don’t know your Christmas expectations, but sometimes fun or funny memories are better than met expectations.