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I made my bed

Sunday, December 4, 2005 0:28 AM CST

Okay, okay, okay. Settle down everyone. I made my bed. You guys are hilarious. I can't believe how many emails I got about sleeping on a mattress. It's made now. You can sleep better tonight. I was sleeping fine. :-)

We got our tree today. We always go to Klicker's and pick one from the field. Mike Klicker was there, and it was great to see him. I even got to talk to Laurie on the phone when she called looking for him. It was cold and muddy, the snow has melted into muck.

Funny aside, Zach predicted this. That the snow would melt and it would rain. Then he said it would snow again in a couple of weeks and do the same thing, but that we'd have a white Christmas. Well, Kate is now convinced that Zach can tell the future. "HOW did he know that, Mom?" "Well, sweetie, that often happens, it was pretty easy to predict." "NO, Mom, he KNEW!" She's very impressed. I told Z the story, and he smiled, then said, "Mom, I was just making stuff up." I said, "Yes, but you're her big brother, she thinks you can do anything." A moment of introspection...Zach looking serious. "I'd better be careful then, huh?" Wow.



Looks like an ordinary tree!

So, at Klickers, there was no Dave to say, "Uhhh, guys, that one's way too big."



So we ended up choosing a tree that, once on top of our van, drew some wide-eyed looks. Zach thought it looked like the tree was eating the van.



As we drove up to the house, Zach, humming the Mission Impossible theme song...."Project Xmas: Your mission, should you choose to accept it...get the tree IN the house..."

Easier said than done. We got it halfway in the door, but Kenny, who was kindly holding the screen door open, got stuck. And he was in the way. So we jockeyed him out.

Then we get it in the house. We stand it up. Crunch! "Why does that tree have that big bow in it? It didn't look so crooked in the field." And we realize that the tree is bowed because it won't fit. It's bent like a banana, scraping off half our ceiling.

So I get the stepstool (Thanks, Grandpa Bob!) and Zach gets the handsaw (Thanks, Mike Braddock!) and he cuts the top of the tree off so it will fit. Having never used a saw much before, that was a precarious kind of maneuver, the tree swaying and me trying to keep it upright.

So we finally wedge in into the corner. Now we have the tree that's trying to eat the living room.

Tomorrow we put lights on it. That ought to be fun.

Today, Kenny said to me, "Mom, you're doing a good job. I know it's hard without Dad and you have to be the only one all alone. But you're doing a good job." He was so earnest and so serious. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so I did both.

The house is full of kids tonight. I love boy town. They are so funny. Even if they do eat everything in sight.

Love, Shelley

Update: we got the decorations on:

Kenny said, "It will never fit!" You can see that even after a second cutting of branches, the angel still tilts quite crazily on the top of the tree, although she is actually pretty sturdy, only because her head is wedged against the ceiling! Kenny thinks it looks like she's going to jump. I said, "No way. Any guardian angel for this family is going to be a heck of a lot stronger than that!"


Zach hung Kyle's ornament.


Kate hung our special, secret ornament. Apparently, it involves holding your tongue just right.

The tree looks great....and our living room survived, as long as you don't want to get anywhere in a hurry! See...I can't even get the whole tree in the picture!



Just for Cheri and Cathy, my far in distance, close in heart friends. HERE IS THE BED!! You can see the sheets...however, Kate is sick, so she's in the bed, so it's not made-made, but there are sheets on it!

Thanks, Darlene, for being part of that team!

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