December 30, 2007 - Stick Horse Adventures

The boys were very intrigued by our Christmas tree.  
They wanted the lights on all the time  and found it disconcerting when we turned them off as we were getting ready to leave the house or preparing for bedtime.  They loved touching the bulbs and lights and pointing to the various ornaments.

Unfortunately they were not very gentle with it and it was losing needles fast. Every time it was bumped or touched, more needles fell off. The cats would walk under it and brush branches with their backs and needles would go everywhere. I found several balls stuck in the tree and up pretty high actually (the boys are getting pretty good at throwing these days:). The needles would get tracked all over the house, even though we swept them up at least once a day.



Then there came the evening that I was in the bedroom, 
taking a short break and relaxing for a bit, while the boys played with the dad. It was probably only one or two days after Christmas. 

By the way, have I mentioned that the dad is not the multi-tasking sort, but focuses extremely well on one task at a time? It seems he became focused on something in his office while the boys played with some of their new toys.

I remember hearing something in the background, as I relaxed in my room and read a book or blog or something. I remember hearing the boys playing and laughing in the living room and I knew they were up to something and I wondered what the dad was doing. 

The next thing I heard was the dad saying "hey, you guys, what are you doing??!!" "Stop that!!" I was not sure what had happened but I heard the dad cleaning up.

Turns out the boys had been having a ball, beating the Christmas tree with their new stick horses....and not with the stick end, but with the stuffed head end of the stick horse.


They did quite a number on the tree. I could actually see right through the middle of it. All of the branches they could reach were all hanging downward, towards the ground, and ornaments were on the floor or hanging underneath branches that were knocked downward. It was quite a sight.....and this was after the dad had finished cleaning it up, as much as possible.


My sister got the biggest laugh out of this and was wishing we had it on video. I'm glad I am not the one who discovered them beating the tree with the stick horses. I probably would not have taken it very well, since I spent a lot of time decorating it. Since it happened on the dad's watch, I ended up thinking it was pretty funny and the further we get from the scene of the crime, the funnier it gets:). Yee Haw!!



Don't they look like innocent little cherubs?
Merry Christmas!!