The Festivus Pole

We typically have two Christmas trees every year.  A "pretty" one upstairs, with all the fragile, collectible ornaments my mom has given me over the years, and the "family" tree downstairs with the ornaments I made as a kid, that the kids have made, and all of that.  A "to look at only" tree, and a "git 'er done" tree.  Rob was TRYING to be helpful this year, and went out into the woods by his little lonesome and picked out the "pretty" tree.  Except.... well.... trying to be kind here..... the tree was... think "Charlie Brown Christmas", only 10 feet tall.  Five branches or so, spaced out 2 feet apart, with gaping holes everywhere.  Rob said he liked it because it had a "thin profile" and wouldn't take up much circumferential area in the foyer.  And, because it was "sparse", it would let light in through the picture widow. Yeah.  THAT'S what I look for when I pick out a tree.  One I can SEE THROUGH.  Oh my. He was pretty proud of the fact that he had taken the initiative to get the tree for me, though, and I didn't want to burst his bubble, so.... I made do.  This tree is going to be a BEAR to take down come January, I can tell you that.  First, I wrapped every garland of fake greenery I owned around the middle of the thing.  Then, I went outside and cut off a bunch of pine bows from the trees in our yard, and wired them to the trunk.  I  had to wire the entire tree to the wall, because it was so thin and tall, it was a tipping hazard.  Then I proceeded to decorate.  See picture above.  They say photos never do the subject justice, but in this case.... yes it does.  It is NOT pretty.  It is a jumbled mess eye-sore.   When the boys came home from school, they didn't even NOTICE it for a good 45 minutes, and that's only because I said "what do you think of the tree?"  Colby just said that he hadn't seen it because it was so "skinny".  UGH.   Hideous tree. But created with the right intentions all the way around, so.... maybe Mom needs to let go of this one.little.bit. of Christmas-Creative-Control and let it be.   (sigh)

p.s.  I AM going to try shaping the tree a bit with some pruning shears.  Maybe that will help.  I'll let it be, but it might be more than I can stand to have it TOO ugly.