Our Christmas Tree: Part I

Houston, we have a problem!

After hauling our 7-foot Noble Fir tree home from Costco, Brian attempted to maneuver it into the stand, but because there were so many low-lying branches, the tree trunk just wouldn't fit.

Uh-oh!

To address this issue, Brian sawed off a few branches from the left side of the trunk. It seemed the problem was solved as the trunk slid right into the stand.

But as you can see, the tree was now visibly lopsided.

Ay carumba!



Those of you who know me well, know that I can be somewhat of a perfectionist. And while I'm working on becoming less of a perfectionist, I just couldn't stand the thought of having to look at a misshapen tree in my family room for a month or more.



That's where this branch came in handy!

I asked Brian if there was anyway we could glue or staple or duck tape it back onto the left side of the tree, so the bottom of the tree wouldn't look quite so uneven. (Ok, so maybe I didn't mention the stapling or duck taping part to Brian, knowing he would have laughed!) But the reality was, I was going to do whatever needed to be done to make our tree look presentable. (Oh ok, who am I kidding?! I was going to pretty please ask my husband to do it!)

Next thing I knew, as if he'd read my mind, Brian had his power drill out and was boring a small hole in the tree trunk.



Then, Brian squeezed a little bit of wood glue onto the end of the tree branch and placed the branch into the hole.



And voila...our Christmas tree looks like new! You'd never know Brian had to perform minor surgery on it to make it look that good!


(Did I mention how much I love my husband?!)
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To keep our tree alive and looking green over the coming weeks, Brian decided to whip up a homemade preservative to add to the water. This preservative recipe comes from the following website: http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryhowtoguide/ht/treepreserve.htm.

Here's what you need:

• 1 gallon water
• 2 cups light corn syrup
• 4 teaspoons chlorine bleach
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar (optional)

Using a blue plastic funnel with tubing attached, Brian poured the bleach down into the tree stand.

(This picture looks really blurry because I had to hurry over to snap this photo. By this point, Brian had grown tired of paparazzi Jennie taking pictures of him--see the smirk on his face--so he was doing everything rather quickly, hoping I didn't have time to take a photo of it! He underestimated my Nikon's ability to capture the action, though!)

Seconds later, Brian poured a mixture of water, corn syrup, and vinegar into the funnel. As you probably know, bleach and vinegar produce toxic vapors when mixed. So, if you add vinegar or lemon juice, pour it into the water rather than mixing it directly with the bleach.



And lastly, the strands of colorful lights made their annual debut...



To be continued...in Part II!