Crying at Home Depot

Almost exactly two years ago today, I was standing in Home Depot’s nursery, crying my eyes out and basically having a holiday breakdown. My husband’s dear friend, Marc, was with us probably thinking I was a totally insane person, waiting patiently for me to find “the tree” so he could load it up onto his truck and help us get it home. Through my tears I muttered some incomprehensible nonsense about how un-Christmaslike it was to get a tree at Home Depot and how damaged 9 month old Lilly would be because of it. He was probably muttering some incomprehensible nonsense of his own about how crazy I was acting (an adult and fairly new mother, wife etc. etc. SOBBING embarrassingly in the Home Depot parking lot). But if he was thinking those {true} things, he didn’t show it. And thankfully, my husband understood that Nalbone girls get their trees at the tree farm where tractors and giant saws were needed to, you know, chop the 14 foot tree down yourselves. Where you needed Dad and a whole slew of brothers to carry the tree because it was so heavy. Where you got hot cocoa and a big sugar cookie. Where there was snow on the ground and horses in the fields. No way, no how was Home Depot gonna cut it, no matter how good the price was on a 6 foot, pre-cut, frasier fur.

Those two wonderful men packed us back into the car- Lilly bundled up to her eyeballs in that ridiculous infant carseat, and drove us over to a “real nursery” that had the trees all set up in rows, old-school ball lights strung up in the air, and Christmas music playing. There was hot apple cider and trays of cookies and even though it wasn’t the “tree farm” of my childhood, all of that together soothed my holiday-homesick soul enough to find a great tree and feel satisfied that I “did it right”.

I’ve since learned to let go. (Are you laughing, Dad?) I have magical childhood memories that may not ever be topped but that doesn’t mean the new memories I’m making with my children are any less. Some years we’ll do the whole tree farm tradition with my family on the other side of the state, other years we’ll continue our nursery tradition here- which we actually really enjoy.

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We also had a few great Christmas card outtakes. Not so much a final Christmas card photo but I’ll be damned if I didn’t at least TRY. Actually that’s not completely true. I almost didn’t try this year. With everything going on lately, and not even anything particularly bad, I just didn’t think I could have one more thing on my plate. But- shocker- I ended up trying to do something because that little voice inside my head tells me that I have to. It is Gracie’s first Christmas after all. How could we not commemorate it with a card?

We call that the Christmas choke-hold. Grace likes it.

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Now that Lilly is almost three, we can finally start some real Christmas traditions that she will understand. She is so into every single thing about this holiday which is making all of this ten times more fun for me.

I die every time I hear Lilly say, “Oh my gosh that baby Jesus is so precious!”And my Mom’s vintage gum drop tree- this is actually husbands favorite. He says he’s addicted. Five years, people, and I had no idea that he has such an affliction for gum drops. And that right there is our new Elf. We went through a gazillion elfish names, like Zonk and Twinkle and Moozle and Fuzz. But Lilly named him Uncle Michael which is highly appropriate given my brother’s devilish sort of nature. He moves around all day long and has already turned Lilly’s milk green. I’m feeling a little devilish myself with all of the silly things I have planned for that Elf. We’re not following all the rules, but it’s awesome.

What’s your favorite Elfish trick to play on your kids? Care to share? Show me on instagram @sweetersidemom #sweetersideelf. Tis the season!