It’s not Christmas without the tree

Yesterday was the annual, “Yay, I get to pull out my machete and feel manly while hacking away at the Christmas tree!” day for Hubby.

Bad guys beware!
treewarning.jpg

We’ve got two of these babies stashed in the apartment. Hubby bought them while he lived in Brazil. They were $3 American dollars a piece and he thought they were cool. Never mind that they serve absolutely no practical purpose except to hack away at the trunk of a Christmas tree once a year. But whatever floats your boat eh?

treetrunkcutting.jpg
Here is Hubby slimming the trunk so it will fit in our tree holder. Last year, he had to hack off a whole section of the trunk. I think he was secretly disappointed that the tree didn’t require any such maintenance this year. He still managed to make quite a mess though. Bark chips and pine needles all over the floor.
That’s Count Dooku’s art in the background

treelighting.jpg
Now the Hubby is getting in touch with his gentler side. The tree must be strung with lights his way. Cord must be wrapped around branches and not just placed atop of them in a winding circle like I would probably do.

treefinished.jpg
The finished product.

Once Hubby is done with the lights, he is done with the tree until he has to take it outside after Christmas. The kids and I do the decorating and then all of us sit back with the apartment lights off and enjoy the mismatched ornaments, the soft glow and the smell of fresh pine.

signature

Share this post These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Facebook
  • Bloglines

Comments (22)

MarieDecember 2nd, 2007 at 12:21 am

He looks so YOUNG!

I am still struggling with Brad to get our tree up. We have a fake pre-lit one, and it is waiting in the living room, in its box. So is the angel and two boxes of ornaments. He’s such a Scrooge, it’s a big drama every year to get him to do anything Christmas related. I always have to guilt him into it.

McKennaDecember 2nd, 2007 at 1:13 am

It’s beautiful. You know, I do love a beautiful tree with matching ornaments or a “theme” like you’d see in a department store or the Festival of Trees. And I’ve always been tempted to decorate a tree like that. But I can’t bring myself to do it because when it comes down to it, my mismatched tree is what I love the most. Each ornament has a memory of its own and all of them together on the tree are like a tribute to my life and family.

MeishaDecember 2nd, 2007 at 1:24 am

Hahaha, Salvador has two machetes from El Salvador. Men + Latin America = machetes
I’ve always wanted to try using a real tree, if not just for the smell. The closest I’ve come is when we stayed with you last Christmas. I desperately wish we could come over again this year.

CorrieDecember 2nd, 2007 at 3:55 am

I’m envying your pine smell, but the last time we had a real tree it brought hundreds of baby spiders with it & now I’m too chicken to try again.

Yours looks lovely!

Baby AdviceDecember 2nd, 2007 at 9:32 am

There is nothing like having a real tree in the house to make home smell like the holidays!! I can’t wait for my hubby to get home so we can put up our tree!!!

Baby AdviceDecember 2nd, 2007 at 9:39 am

All the hard work paid off!!!!

Charlotte (Charmed Life)December 2nd, 2007 at 10:33 am

your christms tree looks so lovely! i think mismatched ornaments have the home-ly feeling than the themed well organized one. but i’m not really into the real pine tree. it looks like it needs a lot of work maintaining it…

MariaDecember 2nd, 2007 at 2:02 pm

How did you find such a perfect Christmas tree? BTW, I love mismatched ornaments. Each one gives you a different memory when you hang them on the tree.

HowToMeDecember 2nd, 2007 at 9:44 pm

Sounds great! :-)

KellanDecember 2nd, 2007 at 9:49 pm

Just beautiful, Summer! I love seeing all the beautiful trees. I wrapped presents today - I haven’t finished shopping, but I had to get some of those presents out of my closet before the kids started all their snooping. Hope you had a good weekend. See ya.

anordinarymomDecember 2nd, 2007 at 10:01 pm

I love how Christmas trees just add to the Christmas spirit! Lovely!

childlifeDecember 3rd, 2007 at 1:36 am

Hilarious, Summer! Got to make use of those machetes somewhere - LOL! My husband’s favorite part of the whole tree thing is attacking it with a power saw on New Year’s day. Sometimes I swear I even hear maniacal laughter above the din of the saw…

(Love the stick-figure snowmen in the background!)

julie@lovelaugter&laundryDecember 3rd, 2007 at 3:11 am

My boys would love that big old knife thing. The tree looks great. I love this time of year.

RobinDecember 3rd, 2007 at 4:50 am

What a pretty tree, and even better that there are no hacked off fingers displayed around the base - that machete is scary looking!

HollyDecember 3rd, 2007 at 12:03 pm

Beautiful. I love seeing everyone’s trees!

MelissaDecember 3rd, 2007 at 1:20 pm

Yeah! We still don’t have our tree up :( I am hoping that we will be able to get it today…. Your tree looks great :D

kailaniDecember 3rd, 2007 at 2:33 pm

I love colorful Christmas trees! It turned out great!

ChristineDecember 3rd, 2007 at 4:53 pm

Your tree is absolutely beautiful! The lights are very pretty!

KimberlyDecember 3rd, 2007 at 4:55 pm

It must be a hubby thing. Neil has two canes. With swords in them. Also a seven foot tall sheperd’s crook. He is weird and I love him.

Jordan (MamaBlogga)December 3rd, 2007 at 5:44 pm

What IS it with men and swords?! A guy I dated in high school (he was EIGHTEEN) had two; my husband came home from his mish in Scotland with a Claymore (a huge Scottish sword, not a landmine), a shorter sword (forget the name; perhaps it’s a dirk) which he’s worn once at Halloween, and at least one sgian dubh (’skeen doo’; the knife you wear in your sock (technically, called the ‘kilt hose,’) when wearing the full kilt).

Okay, so I really like parentheses and apparently know a disturbing amount about Scottish bladed weaponry.

In conclusion: at least you get to put the machete to use!

CristyDecember 4th, 2007 at 1:32 pm

What a perfect tree!

BusyDadDecember 5th, 2007 at 5:27 am

Thanks for the inspiration! I bought a machete “just because” in the Philippines a few years ago and can’t figure out what to do with it (of course for a guy “so I can own one” is a good enough reason to buy a machete). Now I will happily hack away at the Christmas tree! Can’t wait!

Leave a comment

Your comment

:alien: :angel: :angry: :blink: :blush: :cheerful: :cool: :cwy: :devil: :dizzy: :ermm: :face: :getlost: :biggrin: :happy: :heart: :kissing: :lol: :ninja: :pinch: :pouty: :sad: :shocked: :sick: :sideways: :silly: :sleeping: :smile: :tongue: :unsure: :w00t: :wassat: :whistle: :wink: :wub: