We bought a Christmas tree on Tuesday.
So far, so good.
After the recent snowstorm, all the trees in the lot came with a free dusting of snow and ice, so we set it up in the stand and left it to melt/drip dry.
By mid-evening, it was ready for lights. Since the tree purchase (by John and A; gold stars as they knocked this selection out of the proverbial park) had been rather spontaneous, I hadn’t given thought to inviting my parents up to join us for the decorating phase. I remedied that oversight with a quick phone call, and we pushed pause until they arrived to lend a helping hand.
It was such a magical evening. Christmas music was playing, all the lights were off except for the twinkly ones on the tree and mantle. As we decorated, we talked about the significance of each ornament before placing every single one lovingly on the tree. THE KIDS DIDN’T EVEN FIGHT. When we were finished, everyone sat back to admire our holiday handiwork with an appropriate level of awe and wonder.
The shape was perfect. The fresh-tree smell was a delightful sensory experience. Dozens of sentimental ornaments were arranged with love and care. No one was ready for such a wonderful evening to end, so we piled onto chairs and snuggled in and talked – all in the shadowy glow of our magnificent tree.
We were living in the middle of a real-life Hallmark movie.
Finally, I told the kids it was bedtime! (Past bedtime!!) John walked by the tree en route to tuck in the kids and rather casually noted: Hmmm. It looks like it’s leaning a bit.
Pause story. It’s important to note that we had spent at least 30 minutes rearranging the trunk and getting things as straight and sturdy – in our heavy-duty tree stand – as possible. The tree had been very straight. This is an important tidbit to keep in mind before I continue discussing the events that soon followed.
So off John went to snuggle our blissfully happy offspring while my parents and I continued sitting in the living room talking by the glow of the tree.
And then I thought to myself: Wow, that tree really looks like it’s leaning.
I repeated that thought to my parents: The tree looks like it’s leaning. Is it just my perspective?
To myself: As soon as they leave, John and I need to make sure the tree is secure.
I was LITERALLY THINKING THIS VERY THOUGHT when the tree came crashing to the ground.
You know how in the movies these things happen in slow motion? In real life, it happened in very, very FAST motion. One minute it was up and the next second it was over and I was screaming. Involuntary, blood-curdling screams. My Mom started yelling Oh no, Oh no, Oh no. And the kids came running and IMMEDIATELY sobbed when they saw the carnage.
After 15 years of hardly ever breaking an ornament, we now had our giant, perfect, lovely Christmas tree and all its decorations splayed out on. the. floor. (Water from the tree stand was flowing everywhere too, just to add to the fun).
Every year we each get a new ornament and they are deeply sentimental and when I saw the tree go over, I resigned myself to the fact they were all going to be broken. I pulled the tree up off the floor but couldn’t bear to look at the shattered aftermath.
The final ornament to get placed on the tree had been John’s favourite – his Darth Vader figurine. I saw it still hanging on a branch when I pulled the tree back up and was so relieved it had survived the fall.
A few seconds later I heard a loud Clink and looked down to see Darth Vader’s body rolling toward my foot. The ornament must have been dislodged in the fall and fell off the tip of the branch in the motion of lifting the tree upright.
Cue wailing from one child: “Mom, where is Darth Vader’s head.” We could not find the head anywhere and so the same child kept wailing: “Where is Darth Vader’s head? Have you found Darth Vader’s head?“
It should come as no surprise that this is not what I had envisioned at the start of the evening; me crawling around on my hands and knees, looking for Darth Vader’s head among shards of broken Christmas ornaments.
Thankfully, almost all the sentimental ornaments emerged unscathed. Ironically, the two that did break were two of our favourite ornaments. Darth Vader and a caroler A got me years ago for Christmas.
Between pipes bursting and drenching my already-wrapped gifts (remember that year?), kids being sick literally all but one Christmas since 2011, and now a falling Christmas tree…it’s beginning to feel like Christmas in our household isn’t complete without some form of holiday mishap.
But we sure have a story to tell and I am beyond grateful that so many (most) of our beloved ornaments emerged unscathed. Sadly, the glass bulbs we’ve used since our first year of marriage were not quite so lucky.
You’ll be pleased to know that we found Darth Vader’s head. With some strategic use of crazy glue, he should live to see another Christmas.
Your turn. Tell me about your most memorable Christmas/holiday misadventure(s)! Has anyone else had a tree catastrophe? Describe your favourite ornament; what makes it so special?
Sarah
THIS HAS HAPPENED TO US!!!! Oh my goodness— so glad most was salvaged, and now you have a great 2023 story to remember. We always break at least a couple. This year Jack dropped a vacation ornament, and Dorothy said THAT WAS MY FAVORITE. And then Ben said “It was everybody’s favorite,” and that was such a terrible thing to say that we all laughed, and it was fine LOL. (Also A’s hair looks so pretty in that first picture)
Elisabeth
Braid curls for the win!
And I’m so sorry this has happened to you. And breaking ornaments is the worst and now I regret several of my choices for the new ornaments because they are glass and now I think I may always be fearful of a repeat catastrophe?!!
Kyria @ Travel Spot
Maybe this is like the “if it rains at your wedding you will have love and luck for the rest of your married life” kinds of things. If something goes wrong during the holidays, you are going to have love and luck for the rest of the next year. Right? I am sad that a couple of ornaments did not make it through the fall, but so happy that many of them did! That is very lucky! My Mom would be devastated if her tree fell over, as probably 80% of the ornaments are handmade, and are made from clay or eggshells and are also old, so it would be a very sad day indeed.
I guess the “silver lining” is that your parents were there to witness it, as that is a story that is almost too crazy to believe! Now you have witnesses, and maybe this will be the story you tell around the holiday dinner table for years to come!
Elisabeth
Yes – and my kids have been telling all their friends, so I think it has a tinge of “Oh my goodness, you won’t believe what happened…” vibe. If ALL our favourite ornaments had been broken I think I would have legit wept, but I’m just so relieved it had a mostly happy ending. Still, a holiday event I don’t ever want to repeat.
And I’m hoping this means that we will NOT have a child sick over Christmas this year?!
Joy
I’m sure A enjoyed sharing this story with friends. Her delivery of lively tales is very fun. 🤗
Elisabeth
You know her too well. Yes, she is LOVING this story.
Nicole MacPherson
I have to say, this feels very on-brand for the year that you’ve had. It feels like weird symbolism. Like, if we were writing this in a novel, it would be OVER THE TOP. So let’s all send a message out to the universe that we have had enough of this crappy year for you, and now everything can go smoothly!!! Ahhhhhh Elisabeth! I’m so glad there was so little breakage but still. I mean. I was thinking “look at that beautiful tree, how nice Elisabeth had such a lovely decorating experience, wait, wait, no, noooooooooo” that was literally my brain as I read this!
Elisabeth
It does feel on brand. Sigh. WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT MY BRAND/LIFE?!
Win some, lose some I guess <3 And we mostly still won this one. And bless L's little heart, yesterday morning when we were putting all the non-broken ornaments back on the tree he said: I think it looks even better the second time!
Jenny
Elisabeth, this is so terrible I don’t know whether to cry or laugh. I think it will be something to look back on and laugh (eventually) but only because most of the special ornaments were unharmed. But the way you were describing the beautiful tree, and the kids lovingly placing each ornament on it… yes, you have had quite a year! Do you know this has never happened to us, which is hard to believe since we have two cats. When I was little, our cat climbed the Christmas tree once. We looked over to see the tree shaking (???) and rushed over to pull the cat down just in time. Anyway… I’m very glad you found Darth Vader’s head, and I’m sure the tree looks beautiful once again!
Elisabeth
I didn’t laugh or cry – I was too stunned (the kids DID cry), but now they have been LOVING telling all their friends and basically any stranger who will listen. And yes to this be a laughing experience since most of the ornaments survived. I think I’d be weeping in a fetal position in the corner right now if we’d lost them all.
Trees do seem like the ultimate play structure for cats!
Lindsay
Oh, this both hurt my heart and made me smile. I am sorry you had to go through THAT moment, but I am also impressed how you rallied (and found DV’s head)! My heart goes out to yours for having to navigate that!! <3
We have more misadventure holidays than ones that go smoothly, but our tree is a disaster anyway, so most are not tree related. For example, I have forgotten where I hid 80% of our presents (they weren't found until the following Easter), saved wrapping to the last minute only for my guy and I to realize the ONE present our girl asked for was broken which led to me going on a 6-hour Christmas Eve night shopping adventure, and tried not to decorate the back of the tree only for my then little girl to "spin" the tree while I was greeting guests so they only saw the weirdly wrapped lights (for the entire party).
Elisabeth
I’m sorry but can I just say it is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS you couldn’t find your presents until Easter. You must be an EXPERT hider (I’m very curious where they were!).
And 6 hours of shopping on Christmas Eve sounds like my idea of holiday torture…but also, how wonderful you were able to put in all that effort to get the gift. And LOL to the back of the tree being “naked” – we’ve definitely done this, too!
NGS
Oh, no! But, honestly, this will be one of the formative memories that the kids remember and talk about decades from now. Remember when the tree fell and Darth Vader was decapitated?
I don’t have many disasters, but the first year we put out a tree when we had Zelda the Cat, we put it up with the lights and left it overnight to see what she would do (the lights were unplugged). Well, the answer is that she chewed through the light cord. Sad face. We could not find warm white lights to replace the one she chewed through and you know from my unhinged rant about lights on yesterday’s post that I could not deal with the cool LED bulbs we found as a replacement and I spent that Christmas being very sad about the lights on our tree (which we had to move into the bedroom because Zelda Kitty could not be trusted). Zelda now just lays under the tree and has not chewed a cord or climbed in the tree in years.
We use four strands of lights in our tree. This is the perfect number of lights. Only this year one of the strands would not work. So it’s only three strands and I’m scouring stores looking for another strand (white lights, warm tones). This was not a decapitation disaster, but it was a slight sour note in our tree trimming.
Elisabeth
Yes, I can already tell this will be one of The Stories from our family. I mean, it’s not every family that has seen a decapitated Darth Vader rolling around on the living room floor, right?
Oh Zelda. Thank goodness she has the most beautiful eyes and fur known to man.
Warm toned lights should not be so hard to find. I am with you 100% on this. “Cool” LED lights actually make me angry.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
OK, you’ve had your annual Christmas mishap so you’re done for the season! Not gonna lie, I really want that Pokemon ornament and it would be very nice of me to track one down for someone’s Christmas stocking.
My SIL gives glass ornaments to all of the cousins each Christmas so we have a large collection of highly breakable ornaments. My husband is an expert at repairs.
Elisabeth
That’s the spirit. I’m REALLY hoping this means the kids will be healthy over Christmas (which never seems to happen).
The Pokemon ornament is very fun and he is STILL very much in his Pokemon phase so he was ecstatic to pull it out of the tree decor box.
I am a huge fan of giving/receiving Christmas ornaments. I’m highly sentimental, but I tend toward minimalism. So I love I can have something that’s deeply meaningful to me…that I only have to bring out once a year.
Colleen Martin
Your tree does look beautiful!! I’m sorry that happened, but just think of the funny memories you’ll have every year when you pull out Darth Vader ornament 🙂 Too soon? Haha! I have a cherished Willowtree nativity that has so many glued back together parts. Even this year I broke two more! Honestly though, isn’t every family broken and pieced back together by love?
Elisabeth
I will never look at Darth Vader the same way again.
And I almost teared up when I read the last line of your comment <3 And yes, so, so true!
Michelle
Oh nooooo! I’m so sorry about your tree and the broken ornaments. On the bright side, it made for a compelling title for this blog post, and you’ll have a great story to tell for years! Your tree looks so pretty, and I love your ornaments. I have so many special ornaments that were given to me by special people over the years. I should really write down some of the stories behind them so I don’t forget in the future.
Elisabeth
Like I said last week about the car…this is “copy” for the blog. And yes, this story will be retold for years and years to come (by my kids and my parents too, I suspect!).
I love our trees and I love our collection of ornaments. The point of exchanging new ones each year was to make sure the kids had a meaningful collection when they graduated/left the house…but I don’t know if I’ll be able to bear them taking them with them when they go? I have so many attachments to THEIR ornaments.
I think it’s a wonderful idea to write down stories to go with special ornaments; a bit like a curated Christmas catalogue of your tree.
Linda
I am still cracking up over your skillful telling of this story—so glad that there was minimal breakage! As I sift through many Christmas stories of our own, I do recall sickness (the year my daughter woke me up at 2 am to tell me she had gotten sick) and funny mishaps, bur this one will be told and retold for years to come! Beautiful tree!
Linda
Elisabeth
I am sure you can remember a 2 am wakeup! Those are memorable.
We have such horrible “luck” with Christmas and illness. There has literally only been ONE Christmas in 13 years where everyone has been healthy. That is not a great track record. Sigh. And the kids have been very healthy the last few months, so I’m feeling like the wellness shoe has to drop? I’m very much hoping this quasi-catastrophe with the tree means we’ll sail through the actual holiday without any mishaps or trips to the doctor!!
San
OMG, this started out as such a lovely holiday experience and I wondered how you’d be able to top this wonderful family night when Christmas Day comes around, but then I kept reading and my eyes got wider and I was already forming the words “oh no” in my head before the tree actually fell…. man, what in the world happened?
I am sorry about the broken ornaments, but I am glad some did survive the fall.
Elisabeth
It was too good to be true.
I have no idea what happened. It’s a sturdy (and HEAVY base). I’m stymied. But now we have two CINDER BLOCKS on the base, so it should be very secure. That said, I’m going to bungee cord the tree to one of the cinder blocks tomorrow for extra security.
J
What beautiful pictures! I’m so sorry this happened. I’m glad you had the Hallmark worthy experience first, though.
It’s happened to me twice…once when I was a kid, the kittens kept climbing up the tree and knocking it over. I don’t think we had a lot of glass ornaments, thankfully. My mom eventually found a way to attach it to the ceiling with a wire or something.
The second time was actually after Christmas. We adopted our sweet dog, Genevieve, on December 26th. The morning of the 27th or 28th she walked between the tree and the wall and knocked it over. One or two things may have gotten broken, but we have carpet so it wasn’t too bad.
Elisabeth
My parents always used to attach our tree to the wall, too. And we did up until a few years ago when we lost the curtain rod in the living room windows. Now we don’t have a hook for attaching it, but I’m going to tie a cord around the tree and then tie that around one of the cinder blocks at the base. It SHOULD be secure now.
I can’t believe you’ve had this happen twice. A family member had this happen years ago and almost all their sentimental ornaments were broken, so I am so, so grateful we didn’t have nearly as much damage. Or even that it feel and didn’t hit anything. Imagine if it had gone through THE WINDOW?!
D in Texas
I was living in an apartment with an illegal cat and an even more illegal real Christmas tree. As I was heading for the shower one morning I saw the cat perched high up in the tree. As I approached, he jumped off, but the force of his back feet started the tree falling over. I grabbed it, but it wouldn’t stand upright. I pulled the belt out of my bathrobe and tied it around the tree. Picture it: I’m now leaning in, naked under an open bathrobe, to a fully loaded Christmas tree. And I get contact dermatitis from evergreens. It was the worst. But the tree survived, the cat survived and I survived, even though I did a LOT of surreptitious scratching for a few days. I’m glad Darth was rescued and although I’m a new reader, I greatly enjoy your blog. Happy holidays.
Elisabeth
What a story you have to tell! Glad to hear you, the cat, AND the tree survived. I’m curious if your “illegal” cat was ever discovered?
Thanks for reading and commenting. Nice to have you join the conversation in this space <3
Gigi
Oh no!!! I was reading along and admiring the pictures and then my jaw dropped. At least most of the cherished ornaments were safe. And yes, this story will be told and re-told for decades.
Elisabeth
Yup. We got a story out of the experience and, second time was a charm – now we have a fully decorated tree, too.
Melissa
Your Christmas tree looked stunning. I’m glad you didn’t lose too many ornaments. One Christmas we had to put our dog down a couple days before which was not great. We’ve also moved three times in December which makes for a chaotic Christmas period.
Elisabeth
Oh Melissa, I’m so sorry you had to say goodbye to a beloved member of your family so close to Christmas. That must have been so hard, and I’m sure the holidays will always have a tinge of pain associated with that memory.
And MOVING IN DECEMBER sounds positively horrific. And you have done that three times. Yikes!
Lisa's Yarns
We are not real tree people but one year my parents decided to try getting a real tree. And that tree fell over on top of my dad in the recliner. So after that 1-year experience, we’ve been solidly artificial tree people ever since. This does seem pretty symbolic for the year you’ve had, though. I am glad that most of your ornaments survived, though!!
I think my most memorable holiday memory is a time when my mom gave me the task of helping make the homemade ice cream. The ice cream “batter” (is that the right word? I don’t know) needed to be cooked at a low boil and stirred frequently, so I was given this job. But it was so boring so I decided to multi-task and read while stirring. And then I looked up and the batter was boiling over! Somehow it got between the layers of glass in the oven door. We were hosting Christmas the next day and my mom is a CLEAN FREAK so she had my dad take the oven door off and she was trying to put a rag on a knife so she could clean between the layers of glass, but in her haste, she cut herself pretty badly. But of course she would not go to the ER to get it stitched. In a big family, everyone is happy to have someone to blame and I was that person. We can laugh about it now but it was a tense afternoon in the Dotzenrod house… All because of my bookworm tendencies.
Elisabeth
Oh wow! Your poor Dad! It is symbolic of 2023 FOR SURE.
Oh my goodness. What a horrible Christmas experience for all. I mean…reading is the best excuse possible for a mishap like this, I think. This story is also very symbolic of you (the reading bit, not causing someone in your family to hurt themselves!) <3
Stephany
Oh noooo – what a terrible thing! But it’s one of those stories that will be told in infamy, at least. I’m glad most of the sentimental ornaments were okay!
I sort of mentioned my most memorable Christmas memory in my last comment to you – my mom and I had the BIGGEST, MOST EPIC fight over a Christmas tree. We could not get it to stand up straight in the stand and we got so frustrated at the situation, and then at each other. We finally decided to place the tree in a bucket of water and lean it against the wall for the night because we could not figure it out. We went to our separate rooms for a little while and then my mom offered a peace offering in the form of greasy hamburgers and fries and milkshakes, which soothed over our fraught emotions. And we had my brother come over the next day to help us, lol.
Elisabeth
I have also had Christmas fights over the tree…what is it? It is a very angsty experience! And so pressure filled. The lights are annoying, the ornaments are breakable – it is a stressful setting, I suppose.