OH CHRISTMAS TREE

Time flies, doesn't it? Seems like just 12 months ago we were out hunting for the perfect Christmas tree :-) You remember what we found, don't you? Our Charlie Brown tree, the most adorable tree ever.

Actually, most of you called it pathetic, and your votes in WBFJ's contest "That Christmas Tree Thing" made us the winner of a beautiful 7-and-a-half-foot Christmas tree from Michael W. Smith, along with a copy of his new Christmas cd, "It's a Wonderful Christmas."

On Thursday, December 6, Darren, Tami, and Verne (the hosts of WBFJ's Morning Show) delivered the tree and the fun began. After putting the new Christmas cd in the player, Darren and Verne got the tree out of the box and then the three sections were easily put together. We started "fluffing" the branches, but ... hmmmm. One small problem: the lights on five limbs didn't work! We wiggled and jiggled wires, plugged and unplugged cords, and even read the directions. About an hour later we decided it was time for refreshments! When we spoke on the air on the day the winner of the contest was announced, Tami told me that she had never had raw milk before. So - Christmas goodies and fresh milk it was!

And back to the tree.... After more attempts to get the lights burning on those 5 branches , Weldon even replacing fuses , there was nothing to be done except call customer service. Their solution? They would send us a new string of lights which we would receive in 7 to 10 days, and we would have to take off the offending lights and replace them with the new string. Well, that was rather discouraging, but that's the way the Christmas cookie crumbles.

The Morning Show had also brought along some decorations: The Twelve Days of Christmas and a Spode spoon picturing a tree and the year 2007. For the sake of photo ops, we each hung an ornament and then called it a day.

The next day, I turned the tree so the offending branches were toward the window and finished fluffing the tree. I sent an email to the Morning Show hosts thanking them for all they had done and for the wonderful, fun time we had had together. (They really are a great bunch. Verne had come to deliver the tree, in spite of the fact that he was on vacation!!) Tami insisted that she would come and get the tree and return it to Home Depot and bring us back a new tree. Could she actually do that? You see, Michael W. Smith (in Nashville) had ordered the tree through a company that supplied and shipped the tree through homedepot.com. There was a big flyer in the box that said the tree could not be returned to Home Depot. Well, go for it, Tami!

And go for it, she did! After explaining the whole thing to Home Depot, they gave her a new tree, she delivered it Sunday night, and we set it up to make sure all the lights worked (they did). KUDOS to Home Depot and more thanks to Tami and WBFJ.

I finally got it all fluffed and decorated, and the tree is beautiful!!

See the "maid-a-milking" in the lower left and the spoon in the upper right corner? I'll post another picture of the tree in a day or two so you can see all the lights.

Thank you, Darren, Tami, and Verne. Thank you WBFJ 89.3fm. Thank you, Michael W. Smith. Thank you, Home Depot! Thank you, all you who voted. Thank you, God, for Christmas :-)