The big tree and taking all the ornaments off of it is a very methodical process. You probably should not ask the question you do not want the answer to, so don’t.
First is the snowflakes. Hand crocheted snowflakes. There are not too many, just enough. Enough to make the tree start to look a little different.
Then it is the balls. This year, I did not put all of the balls on the tree. I just did not. I put the ones with the most value to me and left the cheesy satin balls in the box.
Then it is all the clear, plastic stars. They are nothing fancy but I really liked them and I bought a bunch. I have thought about engraving words into them.
Then it is the fake candy canes. Plastic. Beaded. Whatever. They come down. There are a few exceptions because those go in the individual boys’ boxes but most of them are off in this round.
Then we have the individual boys’ ornaments. Andrew. Kyle. Lance. They each have a box. They might end up with two or three by the time they leave home. That is fine by me. They get one more ornaments a year.
Then it is Ben’s ornaments. Yes, he has his own box. I do not. Most of my ornaments are still on my mother’s tree. I am perfectly fine with that. Mom’s tree would not be the same without them. She still proudly puts them out all these years later!
I have one that I wanted so she gave it to me. I can’t remember what grade I was in, but it was in one of the early grades. Maybe first, second, or third.
You will notice that once all of these are gone, there is not much left.
The angels and matching stars are next. They are fragile. So they have to be wrapped and padded. I typically pull them off and set them aside until I have everything else off.
Then it is the rest of the more fragile ornaments. The balls came off with the balls (even the boys’ ones that should be in their boxes), so those are good. These are again set aside until everything is taken care of.
Then it is everything else. Everything is off the big tree. Ben will be so proud. It is only January 6th and the big tree is sans ornaments. The star is still on the top, but I will have Andrew take that down for me. I might even have him take the tree down for me.
I am debating whether or not to go ahead and replace all the dead bulbs I found while taking the ornaments off the tree. I counted the bulbs I replaced before decorating. Forty-eight. That is a lot of bulbs, but it is not unusual on a tree this size especially for its age. Most of the bulbs I replaced were original bulbs. I am pretty sure the bulk of the bulbs I see that are out now are also original bulbs. The good news is that this year I was not replacing broken bulbs. I have done that every year in the past. So that was a good thing. A step up in the world. I am just tired. Taking the ornaments off the tree is a lot of work.
Of course, I was pleased to find the stray toy behind the tree. Why pleased? My children respected the tree and left it there.
Now the challenge is how to get all the stuff back into the storage bucket.?!. It all fits. I promise. I need to work to get all the hanging hooks off the ornaments and then neatly get them all in the boxes and then neatly stack the boxes into the bigger bucket. Everything came out of that bucket. There is another bucket out in the garage still that some of the stuff did come out of, but most of it came out of this one. Most of the mantel stuff was in the other bucket.
Just so we are clear, that tree is big. It is 9 feet of beauty. Do not get me wrong, I love it. My fear of heights did not slow me down at all. I only thought about the fact that I was going to have to get on the ladder to decorate it as I was paying for it. Like I said, it did no slow me down at all. I really was drooling over the 12 foot tree but was afraid that it would take up too much of the living room floor. The price was not right on them either. So 9 feet it was.
There were no ladders encountered in this process. Probably a good thing after the bruise on my shin from earlier this morning. Unlike the decorating the tree, taking the ornaments off the tree is a bit easier (and without a ladder) but cannot be done without my wonderful friend and arm extender – the Deluxe Gopher II. Love this thing! If you do not have one and you are vertically challenged, you should go get one. This is my second one. I am serious. It does not work great for heavy stuff, but it is a life saver.
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