The trees— and makin’ memories
So I do believe my night deserves a blog….several years ago- my youngest brother, Dale, preached a sermon entitled “makin’ memories”…it was a sermon about his best friend and brother-in-law- that was killed his freshman year at FH- by a drunk driver. One of the things he talked about was how he held on to the simple memories that they had made together. So through the years- I have used the line— “makin’ memories” so often….usually when something crazy happens that I know will make me laugh as the years go by. For instance— the first time I cooked my first thanksgiving turkey for about 15 Marines so many years ago— and realized as I pulled it out of the oven- there was a bag of stuff and a turkey neck inside the bird!!! “Makin Memories”…… and more recently- as I cooked pre- thanksgiving dinner for about 12 of my sweet college kids- I pulled a chocolate pie out of the oven and as I turned to put it on the counter- it slipped off the pan and landed top down on the floor….. we all laughed so hard as I said— well we are just makin’ memories…. This brings me to tonight— Blake, Drake, Stokely and I drove to Lowe’s to get our Christmas trees….Stokes has never had a live tree before- so she was so excited she was about to pop!!! So we pull in and get out to look at the trees and this is when the “memories” began….first off it was raining— not to bad but steady. Then as we walked around the tree lot area- I watched as Stokely’s eyes got bigger and bigger….and Drake and Blake walked directly to the 9 foot trees!! They started pulling them out one by one and looking at height and shape and debating as each of them tried to find that perfect tree. Well we found our tree and Blake carried it up by himself to the front area…as Drake and Stokely began to look for their first tree together. I loved watching the two of them as they tried to decide if the 9 ft. trees could fit into their house—talking with each other as they discussed cutting it off- or having a tree like “Elf” had in the movie…..Blake returned and “helped” them and they too found a beautiful 9 ft. tree!! (makin’ memories) We headed to the front and with their tree- and we realized when we got there that we knew the young lady working the chain saw and bagging area— she is just a little bitty thing and I wondered how on earth she and the little check out girl were going to help us load not just one but two trees onto the top of my car!!! Well as we talked to them I realized that they had no idea how they were going to do this either…..they were assuming I guess that Blake and Drake would do it….if you know my children at all…you might understand why this had me a bit worried. So i casually mentioned to the check out girl that we might need some assistance tying it to the roof of the car…she called for back up! ”Back-up” came in the form of a skinny scrawny guy that went to high school with the boys…bless his heart- he had no clue!! We placed the trees on top of the car and began tying them to the roof-with two small pieces of “thread” (according to Blake). Stokely and Drake secured them and began tying them very tightly to ensure they would NOT come off…..the problem was that as the tied the third secure side…they realized that the car doors would NOT open! So we all laughed so hard we couldn’t handle it….we had one door that had not been tied down yet so we climbed through that door to all get into place. (makin’ memories) By the way- my passenger window does not roll up or down so we had to run one of the strings across the passenger seat over to the driver side— kinda like an automatic seat belt strap. (makin’ memories) We began driving with Drake and Stokes in the back seat watching the trees from that angle and me in the passenger side and Blake driving… Drake told him to drive as slow as possible until we were sure that the trees wouldn’t move….so we started out at about 20mph….and yep- that was as fast as we go without the trees slowly sliding around and moving more and more toward the back of the car. We noticed this when all the sudden Blake said- hey, I can’t see the tops of the trees out the top of my window anymore…..(makin’ memories). About 1/2 mile down the road as I was hanging onto the string that was running across my seat- I realized that my coat sleeve was getting full of water— oh, wait- the window did roll down just a bit. :-) (yep, makin memories) It only took us about 30 minutes to make a 10 minutes trip….but we didn’t loose the trees and although the rain had drenched them pretty good—we made it home all in one piece— safely. We unloaded the trees and went back to the store for some lights and some ornaments for Drake and Stokely and came on home with more excitement then we have had in many years. Stokely begged and begged us to go ahead and set up our tree- so the kids began all working on the new tree stand and trying to get it so function…it was quite the effort as they worked to try to get the tree straight….they never did but they all felt it was “straight enough” and so they started to decorate…it was a fun process and we all talked and laughed and really had a great time— until I moved to a different seat in the room— I kept looking at the tree as each ornament was put on and thought- wow- it really seems crooked to me! Well all the sudden Blake put one of the few final ornaments up towards the top and the tree started falling….like really falling- I screamed- get the tree…and thankfully Stokely caught it before it hit the ground. Then they could NOT stop laughing— they just stood there literally holding up the tree not knowing what to do. (makin’ memories) Blake and Drake finally decided they would have to unscrew all the bolts in it and reposition the tree and do it again— this took about 30 minutes and finally I had standing the most beautiful tree I have ever had and a sweet and wonderful family to enjoy it with and more memories made then I ever deserved. (can’t wait to hear D and S’s tree story) :-)
