These are Days...: 25 Days of Christmas Memories

This year I've decided to write a special Christmas memory for the 25 days of Christmas. Each day until Christmas day, I will share a funny Christmas moment, memorable gift exchange, and my happy moments with family. I hope you enjoy!

11th Day of Christmas

Today's memory is from a few days ago. Our 2009 Christmas tree drama.

The last tree we got for Christmas was from Maple Lane Farms in Preston, CT. I loved every part of going into the field and cutting down my tree. I couldn't wait to do that again, well you know what I mean. I couldn't wait for Jared to cut one down for me again.

When I started to plan a date to go get one, Jared disagreed. Due to my knocked-up status, I wouldn't be able to help him cut it down, tie to the car, bring in the house, etc. He thought it might just be better for us to buy a fake tree instead. I was totally bumming at the thought but was open to the idea.

We got a flier for Sears a few weeks ago and their trees were more than half off. We went that night and I fell in love. There was one tree that was different from the others. It actually looked real, and I never agree with that. Jared and I contemplated over it for an hour at least. Get the fake, buy a real, what to do! I was so anxious to have my tree that I decided let's just get it. I went to the register and asked the man if he was sure they still had one in stock because it seemed everyone wanted one. He said they did and the tree was ours. Unfortunately we had Jared's car and not my SUV because of a very, long involved story having to do with cleaning a car, an argument, and a dead battery. So in any event, we decided to pick it up in a few days.

I was counting down the days until I could pick up the box because inevitably I knew that tree was going up as soon as I brought it home. We got to the store and I gave them my receipt to pick it up. The guy comes out a few minutes later to confirm. But he has this dumb look on his face as he tells us they don't have this tree. He said they hadn't had it in weeks so he's not sure why the sold it to me. I don't get angry easy and I avoid confrontation at all cause. But this really pissed me off. I went charging down stairs to talk to the people and the first guy was no help. The second guy basically told us they were dumb for selling it to us since they don't have it. Smoke was rising from my ears as we waited for over an hour for this situation to be sorted out. In the end, this dude told me to come back on Saturday to see if the truck delivered more.

I called on Saturday and after speaking to 5 or 6 sales associates I was about to throw the phone out the window. I was getting no where and no one knew of a manager to talk to. Finally I said, forget the tree. I don't want it. I marched over to Jared and said he was getting me a real tree because all this drama was too much.

So we decided we'd go to the tree farm and ask a friend to help us. We were supposed to go last Thursday but Jared ended up working late. Then we were going to go on Saturday and then it was pouring all day. Finally we went on Sunday as it was a nice day. Our friend was supposed to meet us around 10 but didn't show up until noon. Because we were meeting someone later in the day, we couldn't go all the way to Maple Lane now and settled for a place in Mystic. I had been frustrated all morning waiting to go but as soon as I got in our friend Justin's truck I was excited again.

We arrived at Yetter Christmas Tree farm and I was surprised at all the cars everywhere. It was packed. We were told to find our tree, mark it, and then someone would cut it for us and bring it back. Off we went through the mud and little bit of snow on the ground. I found one I liked instantly but Jared plugged on. This became a routine. I would stop and say 'this one' and Jared would agree but wanted to keep looking. Eventually we had gotten all the way to the end of the tree farm; as far out as you can get. We found this blue spruce and it was magical. I wanted that one. Jared kept saying, this one? or this one? I kept telling him to stop because I could never make up my mind. So we agreed to this one tree. Of course being all the way in the back we didn't see any employees to help us. I had a kung fu grip on that tree so no one would grab it and Jared wandered off to try and find someone.

He came back with nothing and I got frustrated. For some reason this pregnancy has gotten me more crazy than usual. I started stomping my feet saying that I wanted this tree cut down right now because I was tired and I had to pee. I told the guys to stay put and took off to flag someone down. I'm not sure how big that tree farm was but I started walking and didn't see anyone who worked there. I got halfway back to the shop when I heard the four wheeler. He was going the opposite way of me so I took off as fast as I could hobble towards him. He stopped and then took off the other way. So I trekked the other way. He stopped again and I tried to wave him down. I know he saw me because I was the only pregnant woman under five feet stalking him. But he took off anyways. I was seething with fury. I called Jared and said, and I quote: "I can't seem to flag anyone down. If you see someone, stop them."

Finally the guy came flying back and I tried to wave him back. He yelled saying he'd be back. Again, steam floated from my ears. I had to pee so bad and my back was killing me. I was not enjoying this at all. What seemed like an eternity later but was probably only twenty minutes the guy reappeared and stopped. I ran over and stood right in front of his truck and as nicely and calmly as I could manage, I asked him to go all the way to the back to get our tree since we'd not seen anyone. He agreed to do so and I was finally calming down. I called Jared and said I sent a guy in a red hat over so flag him down when he gets there. My lovely husband and friend informed me they had already found someone and were almost back to the shop. I was dumbfounded and fury rose again. They couldn't call me and let me know so I could go back and get warm and pee? I hung up the phone and trudged back. At this point my pants and boots were soaked and muddy. I ran into the shop and gave Jared the death stare as I chewed him a new one. Then I stomped out. They just left me out in the middle of the field, freezing with a heavy bladder without once calling me to tell me they'd found someone and they were on their way back.

Apparently there was some type of miscommunication and they did feel bad. But I was angry and did not cool down all day. Can't say it was our best Christmas tree shopping experience but was definitely one I'll never forget. And that is all our Christmas tree drama this year.