A Tree Among Thorns

The day we bought the 4th Christmas tree of our married life was SO horrible. It was the kind of day where the alarm goes off late, and the coffee is already cold. So many things went wrong, that if I wrote about all of them, youd get pretty sad too. It started off not bad though. We got to Skype with some friends in the States, and had a whole list of fun things to do on a fun Saturday in Dublin: Christmas shopping! The Zoo! But nothing went like it was supposed to, and everything slowly fell apart. As thing after thing didnt work out, it was progressively more difficult to stand near each other. The most significant disappointment that day Ill tell you about, was us trying to find our Christmas tree.

This Christmas is obviously one of the most poignant of our lives yet. For so many reasons, this year will stand out in our memories forever. One of the highlights will undoubtedly be the fact that Jon & I, for the first time ever, get to host family, in our very own home, for a major holiday. Its not like a practice holiday that people only minimally care about because they get time off work for it, like Columbus Day or President's Day. People only know when its President's Day because when they stop by the bank, the sticky note taped to the glass says, "Closed during business hours again, because you really needed to cash that check to buy food for your family, and generally just to piss you off. Oh and its President's Day." But Christmas? Thats a real life holiday folks, one that the whole world knows about! Banks are still closed, but nobody cares! Hosting the family for Christmas is just about the biggest honor you can have bestowed on you, and you cannot take it lightly. Needless to say, getting The Tree to set the stage was paramount.

The first bad omen of the day was that after walking ten minutes to the bank, it was closed so we couldnt cash the check. From there it just got worse. It was surprisingly hard to get a straight answer from people about where to find a Christmas tree to buy. Sometimes it was a language barrier (those are adorable cookies, but I meant a REAL tree) and sometimes just poor judgement on our part (just because she's carrying a wreath made from pine tree branches apparently doesnt mean she knows where the branches came from originally). Then we heard about trees in Smithfield.

We bought our tickets, hopped on the Luas, and four stops later, we got off again. Having never been to Smithfield before, we had only a vague idea about where to look (but were assured that we'd definitely find a tree there). Would you be surprised if I told you the mythical Christmas tree lot didnt come to greet us as the doors opened to Smithfield? The only trees we found were the sugar cookie kind. Thinking we were going to (definitely) find a tree there and have to carry it back, we didnt buy return tickets to the City Centre. Let me tell you, having to carry a tree by ourselves for 20 city blocks would have sucked, but having to walk all that way and NOT have a tree to show for it at the end was even more depressing.

By the time we finally got back to our sadly tree-less living room, half the day was over and we had spent it failing at life, and blaming each other. The worst part? We hadnt even done our grocery shopping, so we didnt even have a pizza to throw at the situation. Being grumpy and hungry is no way to shop for anything, especially not for groceries. Jon gets super frustrated in two seconds if he cant find something on the list, or when people practically rip the skin off his forearm with their sharply angled hand-carts, and then dont even bother to look back and apologize. Oh wait no, thats me. And so much for going to the Zoo.

Knowing that bad days like this are random and not the fault of anyone, we ate our chicken fingers and mashed potatoes in silence, trying to be civil until the calories recharged some spent energy. Since theres almost no bad mood that deliciously fatty food cant make better, we eventually re-grouped and decided to check out ONE LAST place we'd been told that there were (definitely) trees. We grudgingly re-bundled in the many layers we had earlier chucked to the far corners of the room in annoyance, and braved the icy wind one last time. Fifteen minutes later, my heart fluttered and the throb in my feet was suddenly less painful than before: I could see green just up ahead!

Being a good foot taller than the rest of the group, it was immediately obvious what tree would be coming home with us. I pointed, Jon paid, and we carried our living treasure home one joyful step at a time. I felt like Santa Claus carrying that tree. Adults pointed and smiled, and kids screamed, "Look Mommy!" It was like if we had started singing a carol, the entire city would have joined in with choreographed moves, and then there would be a really cool aerial shot of the Earth sprouting arms and hugging itself. World peace by Christmas tree. Our completely ruined day was instantly un-ruined by one sparkly green fir. The presents finally have a place to call home, and we are officially ready to host Christmas. Its going to be the best Christmas ever!