What We Did Last Week:
Brookie's Christmas Creed
It occurs to me that there are two types of weekends that receive mid-week posts: the weekend that was full of amazing stories to tell like a five-day holiday weekend, and a weekend that was so bland that I just can't imagine anyone actually caring about it.
What we did this weekend was the latter of the two... So there you go. You've been warned. Feel free to leave and go read someone else's blog. But, if you do, you'll miss Brookie's Christmas Creed.
For this post to be complete I'll need to go all the way back to Cyber Monday (we didn't actually purchase anything online on Monday, I just thought that Cyber Monday was a cool way of saying last Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving). Usually we put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, but this year we were out of town, so that item of Brookie's Christmas Creed (hereafter referred to as "the BCC" because it kind of makes it sound like a funny, though somewhat shady, government bureau) could not be adhered to and was modified.
As far as we can tell, there is no real hierarchy in the BCC. Setting up the Christmas tree on Black Friday is on there and so is the decree that we must have a real tree. Two years ago we went to a Christmas Tree Farm or two to cut down the perfect tree, but discovered it to be a little pricey, so we broke down and bought a tree for $20 at an Ace Hardware store. But we'd tried the farms, and we even went to the clichéd Boy Scout-run tree lot, but what can I say? We're cheap. Last year we talked the Baumans into coming with us to a farm in Kansas and we both found and cut down our own trees. A pair of appendages is a small price to pay for that type of Christmas experience. Although, if we would have gotten a nicer tree (or one that stood 6' tall, and wasn't lopsided) I would be a quadriplegic.
This year (finally getting back to Cyber Monday) we decided to pick one up at Hy-Vee. Actually, that decision was made last year. The day we cut down our tree we had to run to the store and saw that they had the nice Douglas Firs out front for less than half of what we'd just paid to walk around a 10 acre tree farm for hours (though little Jacob could have sworn we'd been searching for years) trying to find a tree that was nice enough, and cheap enough, to cut down so that we could haul it back up to the office ourselves and pay for it. As we passed the nice, 7-9' trees displayed near the entrance I didn't say anything and all Brookie said was, "Don't say anything." So yeah. We actually decided last year where we were going to get our tree this year. And it's the best tree we've ever had.
We wrapped it in a blanket and tied it down to the top of our xB. We set it up that night, but didn't decorate it until Tuesday. We strung the lights (800) but didn't want to put any ornaments on it. We don't really like our ornaments. The next day Brookie bought some red-berry-looking-twig-things and we stuck them in the tree to add some color and we love it. As you can imagine it's very minimalistic, but then again, so are we.
Another item of the BCC is the music decree which states that no one in our household shall listen to, sing, or otherwise think about Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. This renders 90% of our radio presets useless from mid-October through the last week of November. The stores aren't very supportive of this decree. We were at the grocery store and I started singing along to the soft elevator music playing in the background. I immediately caught myself and covered my mouth to stop anymore pre-Thanksgiving holiday cheer from escaping. I couldn't believe it. Hy-Vee had subliminally coerced me into breaking the BCC.
We discovered another decree when I jokingly suggested that we buy a wreath for the front of our xB. Thou shalt not decorate thy automobile for Christmas because "that's just dumb."
Friday we went on our date and ate at Chipotle (come on Cafe Rio, you've got to come to Kansas City... All we've got is Chipotle in all its organic self-righteous glory...) and did most of our Christmas shopping. Saturday we made Christmas cards. We made them from scratch last year, and did so again. Home-made Christmas cards is an item currently before the board of the BCC for full decree status.
I'm sure there will be more decree sent down in the future. We'll be sure to let you know what they are.
So let it be written. So let it be done.*
*The BCC and all decrees pertaining to the BCC apply only to members of the Todd and Brookie household. No grudges shall be held against anyone outside of said household for not abiding by its precepts.
What we did this weekend was the latter of the two... So there you go. You've been warned. Feel free to leave and go read someone else's blog. But, if you do, you'll miss Brookie's Christmas Creed.
For this post to be complete I'll need to go all the way back to Cyber Monday (we didn't actually purchase anything online on Monday, I just thought that Cyber Monday was a cool way of saying last Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving). Usually we put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, but this year we were out of town, so that item of Brookie's Christmas Creed (hereafter referred to as "the BCC" because it kind of makes it sound like a funny, though somewhat shady, government bureau) could not be adhered to and was modified.
As far as we can tell, there is no real hierarchy in the BCC. Setting up the Christmas tree on Black Friday is on there and so is the decree that we must have a real tree. Two years ago we went to a Christmas Tree Farm or two to cut down the perfect tree, but discovered it to be a little pricey, so we broke down and bought a tree for $20 at an Ace Hardware store. But we'd tried the farms, and we even went to the clichéd Boy Scout-run tree lot, but what can I say? We're cheap. Last year we talked the Baumans into coming with us to a farm in Kansas and we both found and cut down our own trees. A pair of appendages is a small price to pay for that type of Christmas experience. Although, if we would have gotten a nicer tree (or one that stood 6' tall, and wasn't lopsided) I would be a quadriplegic.
This year (finally getting back to Cyber Monday) we decided to pick one up at Hy-Vee. Actually, that decision was made last year. The day we cut down our tree we had to run to the store and saw that they had the nice Douglas Firs out front for less than half of what we'd just paid to walk around a 10 acre tree farm for hours (though little Jacob could have sworn we'd been searching for years) trying to find a tree that was nice enough, and cheap enough, to cut down so that we could haul it back up to the office ourselves and pay for it. As we passed the nice, 7-9' trees displayed near the entrance I didn't say anything and all Brookie said was, "Don't say anything." So yeah. We actually decided last year where we were going to get our tree this year. And it's the best tree we've ever had.
We wrapped it in a blanket and tied it down to the top of our xB. We set it up that night, but didn't decorate it until Tuesday. We strung the lights (800) but didn't want to put any ornaments on it. We don't really like our ornaments. The next day Brookie bought some red-berry-looking-twig-things and we stuck them in the tree to add some color and we love it. As you can imagine it's very minimalistic, but then again, so are we.
Another item of the BCC is the music decree which states that no one in our household shall listen to, sing, or otherwise think about Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. This renders 90% of our radio presets useless from mid-October through the last week of November. The stores aren't very supportive of this decree. We were at the grocery store and I started singing along to the soft elevator music playing in the background. I immediately caught myself and covered my mouth to stop anymore pre-Thanksgiving holiday cheer from escaping. I couldn't believe it. Hy-Vee had subliminally coerced me into breaking the BCC.
We discovered another decree when I jokingly suggested that we buy a wreath for the front of our xB. Thou shalt not decorate thy automobile for Christmas because "that's just dumb."
Friday we went on our date and ate at Chipotle (come on Cafe Rio, you've got to come to Kansas City... All we've got is Chipotle in all its organic self-righteous glory...) and did most of our Christmas shopping. Saturday we made Christmas cards. We made them from scratch last year, and did so again. Home-made Christmas cards is an item currently before the board of the BCC for full decree status.
I'm sure there will be more decree sent down in the future. We'll be sure to let you know what they are.
So let it be written. So let it be done.*
*The BCC and all decrees pertaining to the BCC apply only to members of the Todd and Brookie household. No grudges shall be held against anyone outside of said household for not abiding by its precepts.
our tree was also purchased at hy-vee. by thomas. and he was solo, so there was none of that, "is this tree THE ONE" bizness that i am all about. just cash and carry. and decorated cars are totally dumb.
ReplyDeleteYou're better people than us. Our tree is fake--we've never gotten a real one! But then again, we've never done Christmas at our house, either. And you card is beautiful! One of these days when I decide to get crafty, I'm going to have to call Brooke for some pointers.
ReplyDeleteI will never regret hiking the tree farm. The memory has gotten fonder for our children with time. This year we picked our tree from the boyscout lot without even having them unwrap it and paid about a third of what the price was at the farm. The boyscouts then carried it the twenty feet to the Jeep and hoisted it in. Amelia looked at me and said "This sure was easier." It is by far the prettiest and biggest and cheapest tree we have ever had.
ReplyDelete