The Trees of DOOM

Look at those pretty Christmas trees. This year the Mister tried something different. Two trees. He liked how store displays have multiple trees set up together and thought that we could try this at home. He surprised me with it. I thought it was delightful. Although I did think he was mental when he first suggested the idea a week ago. Once the trees were decorated they looked amazing together. We put colored lights on one tree and white lights on the other. There was no theme to the decorations. We hung a hodgepodge of ornaments making them look like the typical family style trees.

How did we end up with two trees? We put off setting up our tree for a while. Usually it goes back and forth between putting up the artificial tree or going with a fresh tree. If we do fresh we find it is better to wait until the week of Christmas before putting it up. Since we are often very busy this month the lack of tree is not that noticeable. The Mister took all the children to get the trees while I was out lunching with a former work friend. I had no idea he was tormenting the girls making them think the worst. He masterfully convinced them into worrying that Mom might truly freak out when she sees TWO trees in the living room. The text message I received from Leah was priceless:

Dad has lost his ever-living mind. He has gotten 2 trees. And through his imagination he believes they will both fit in the living room. Olivia and I both tried to prevent this horrible deed. Yet he persisted and here we are with 2 trees. 

I came home to discover the crazy set up and really loved it. We decorated the trees and went about having a great festive living room. But then....winter went away and all we got was hot balmy weather. The heat was great for playing outside but lousy for trees in a house. That heat and two trees made for a dangerous mixture. By day 3 I was feeling bad. Then the 2 little ones were starting to feel bad too. I began to wonder if I was getting the flu or some other terrible illness. I was also worried that I and the kids would become very sick for the holiday. Something any mother would be worried about happening. Turns out I nor anyone else was not coming down with a virus. It was the trees. I figured it out when we were gone all day and miraculously got better. The ah-ha moment. I then remembered that time we went to the Tetons and I came down with a severe allergic reaction to pine tree pollen after our day long horseback ride. So.....I'm still very allergic to the pollen or mold in pine trees.

Meanwhile, as I was slowly dying from mold exposure Adelynn was a cute reindeer for her ballet class. How cute is that costume? I'm thinking this is a great idea for a Christmas card. I'll totally forget about this idea by next year and do the normal scramble. I'll choose a semi decent family picture and hope to get them printed off in time to send out.

Ok so what did we do about the trees? Well I couldn't take it anymore. First I bought a great air filter thinking that would help. Nope. I was still a mess. So toady I tossed the trees on to the front porch. Cussing included.  The trees are very cute on the porch. And it turns out that 3 other neighbors had the same reaction! I drove to the store and noticed all these trees tossed outside. How funny. At least I am feeling better now and clearly am not the only person who was suffering.