The Christmas Tree that was, then wasn't and now is again

 We like to put Christmas trees in several places throughout our home. This year, my mother-in-law and I were decorating the 6 foot artificial tree my husband has had since college. We were talking about how well the tree has held up over the years and she said she only paid $5 for it so we have definitely gotten our money’s worth. We decided to put our blue glass ornaments on the tree as I am a firm believer in teaching your children to leave things alone and my little girl listens rather well. She was helping put ornaments and flowers on the tree and playing with the garland when we stopped back to admire the tree (with all the flowers at Bundle’s height in one spot!) It looked a bit crooked, but it had character!

Pam and I moved on to packing some stuff away and the tree fell over and practically exploded as the glass ornaments went flying and broke! 

My mother-in-law and  I looked at each other and just started laughing and Bundle just stared at the tree with a “what just happened?” look. 

Thankfully no one was hurt since we were not by the tree. So, three minutes after we had decorated the tree, we were undecorating the tree and cleaning up the mess! The plastic base had given out. After all the talk about how well the tree had held up, it decided it had served its purpose.

We moved on to decorate a smaller 3 feet tree in its place.

We are not wasteful people and I hate to replace something that is perfectly functional nor add unnecessarily to the landfills, so we brainstormed ways to salvage the $5 tree. We didn’t feel like glue would be the best option so we thought of having someone build us a new base. Then I thought I could be that someone!!! At my woodworking class, I was able to make a very sturdy wooden base and we were able to salvage the tree! We decorated the tree (for the second time this season) but put it in our bedroom instead and went with a silver theme, which I like even better. I think the tree will last for years to come.

Now the question is, do I leave the base showing as I am rather proud of my work? Or do I get a tree skirt to disguise it? I am quite proud of the base I made...

~Angela