Seek and Destroy

Last Sunday morning I walked into the house to the sight of dear Hubby and the boys “jamming” to the sounds of Metallica’s Seek and Destroy. Hmmmm…. I will chalk it up to male bonding I suppose. In the end Hubby agreed that perhaps the lyrics weren’t exactly “age appropriate” for Chi-Chi and Muffy. Honestly, I doubt these two little guys could decipher one word that was said in the song. The message of “seek and destroy” is not exactly one I’d like to promote around here!

We spent the remainder of Sunday morning venturing on our annual “Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Hunt”. Our 16 acres is primarily forested so there is no shortage of trees to choose from. Neighbour friends always join us on the hunt and once again this year, they loaded up their pick-up truck with a striking 12 foot beauty! Though not quite as perfect as a tree lot variety, our tree seems just right and was free to boot!

The children were each able to choose a small personal Christmas tree to call their own. We have a lot of thinning to do in our treed areas so I didn’t feel guilty snipping off a couple of spruce seedlings. Wow! What a treat for the little ones. They spent the rest of the day decorating, undecorating and redecorating their trees. I doubt very much these trees will have one needle left by the time Christmas roles around. I managed to convince Chi-Chi that his tree is meant to stay put in one special spot. I truly believe that Muffy thinks his tree is more of a pet, perhaps that puppy he is wishing for? He lugs it around the house, proudly dragging and displaying it to every visitor who should ring the door bell. Chi-Chi and Muffy are also having loads of fun creating ornaments for their special little seedlings!

In the back of my mind, I was secretly hoping that these kiddie trees would serve as decoys to keep my little monkeys’ interests away from the family tree. My master plan has failed. There has definitely been some “seek and destroy” action going on around here. Not one ornament remains on the bottom 5 feet of my tree! Most have been broken, moved to higher ground or eaten…yes eaten. A few years back I made a batch of “gingerbread” men ornaments. The recipe called for cinnamon, applesauce and glue. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but I was childless back in those days. They look exactly like cookies so who can blame them!