O Christmas Tree, o Christmas Tree, how lovely are thy branches.
Okay, so I recognize that it’s not even December yet, and my earlier, pre-mommy-self would have been horrified at the thought of doing anything Christmas-related over (gasp!) Thanksgiving weekend. The thought!
Then again, things change quite remarkably when you have a munchkin – and even more so as you’re anticipating the imminent arrival of a second munchkin right around the holidays. All that said, we’ve resigned to the fact that this year, we’ll DEFINITELY be staying put for the holidays (as opposed to past three years where we've celebrated Christmas down in Southwest Florida).
As with everything in life, there is always a silver lining – and let’s face it, Christmas in New York City can be quite magical. Sure, the cold can get to you sometimes (though last Christmas, as I recall, folks were in t-shirts running around in central park… yet another testament to the fact that yes, climate change is VERY REAL). This year, the silver lining is, we get to decorate our very first Christmas tree!!!
Looking back, in the eleven years that I’ve been with hubs, we’ve actually NEVER bought a tree together. For one thing, we hardly even stayed on the same continent for Christmas, let alone entertaining the notion of holiday home décor. There were two Christmases in New Zealand (2005 and 2011), one in Shanghai (2006), followed by Cartagena (2008) and Buzios (2010), oh yeah – and then there was that one Christmas in Belize (2009) where I got my diving cert and celebrated with some close friends as hubs was working (and getting food poisoning) abroad. Yes, yes, that’s right now that I’m jogging my own memory, it wasn’t until 2012, when I started this blog, that we actually (gasp!) STAYED HOME for Christmas… and the only reason we did so was because I was in the early throes of pregnancy and we were being overly precautious. I remember my friend Grace from the Daily Obsession gasping at our lack of travel plans over the holidays. "Who are you?!" She gasped. At the time, it was a perfectly fair response.
The rest, as they say, was history.
So there you have it, welcome to the new normal – where hubs defiantly humps a big ol’ Christmas tree back to our apartment from Wholefoods (to be fair, he could have just had it delivered but I think he insisted on carrying it over his shoulders purely based on principle). The look of joy on our little Rockshic Baby’s face though! He was sooooooo thrilled to have a tree and decorate it. In truth, I’ve never seen a more invested munchkin, and we both agree that the endeavor was well worth the rewards. Hubs even half jokingly said last night, “we are never getting rid of that tree,” as it has quickly proven to be the best vehicle ever for good-behavior bribery. That’s right! Thus is the world of parenthood, where you literally have to negotiate all day long with your three-year-old (going on thirteen) toddler. #momtruth
