Wednesday, December 10, 2008

O Cousin It?

I usually do a "kids' tree" where we hang all the fun homemade ornaments, paper snowflakes, candy canes, and all the other goodies (toys, stuffed animals, etc.) the kids come up with. I've had this tree for the past 11 years. By the end of Christmas last year, it wouldn't stay standing and the branches wouldn't even stay in it. So I threw the tree out. Or so I thought.

Apparently I only threw away the lower half of the tree. This didn't deter the kids from setting up and decorating their tree anyway.
I was slightly shocked to find "Cousin It" in my basement. He was being held up by the art easel, the lego box, and the wall. He had no bottom branches and my kids thought he was glorious. Carter took great pride in decorating our Cousin It.

Seriously, do you see the similarities?

I just planned on ignoring this tree and letting the kids bask in their glory until the after Christmas sales rolled around. Then I could score a new tree for cheap to use next year.

But my mom called the other day from the D.I. and said, "There's a really nice, pre-lit tree here for $12. Want it?" Bells and choirs rang down from heaven. Hallelujah! Cousin It was dismantled and this new "pretty" now sits proudly in my basement. I still let the kids do the decorating (minus the hoola skirt) and we are all very proud of their new kid tree.


Thanks Mom!

18 comments:

The CEO said...

That picture is amazing. Your kids are darn creative. I love the idea of having 2 trees-the "pretty" one and the kid one. Nice steal on a great pre-lit tree...:)

Wendy said...

This story is destined to become a family favorite. How great that you've captured it here. Loved hearing this story, and the pictures were hilarious. :-)

Brenda said...

What a find! I probably need to do the same thing! We only do one tree and Carson likes to move the ornaments around daily!! I have remember Christmas is for kids right?? Love the cousin it tree, you have some mighty creative and crafty little people at your house!! Halle looks darling on the baptism day!!!

Shell in your Pocket said...

That is pretty funny..thanks for the morning laugh!
-sandy toes

Mama Williams said...

Grandma Saves Christmas!!! LOL! Love the pictures.

Unknown said...

Oh man! That is cute! I love that idea to do a kids tree! I just spend every waking hour rearranging the rearranged ornaments (don't look too closely at our family picture, you may see some imperfections of decor, thanks to a two-year old!) Love the "new" tree!

Jenn said...

Love the tree. I wish we still had a kids tree. We haven't had room for one since moving to our new house, the basement isn't finished. I was going to post before about your daughters baptism. My oldest turns 8 in January. Seeing your post gets me excited for our big day.

ClancyPants said...

That's freakin' hilarious! lol!
The children will not be deterred!

Tamie said...

what a great find....i LOVE, love, LOVE DI/goodwill---one of my favorite places to shop (we go on the 50% off days---but then it is a serious steal!)

Nichole said...

I'm tucking the "kid's tree" idea into my christmas lockbox for next year. great story!

The Manwaring Family said...

Wow- I'm impressed they really did make Cousin It!! Hillarious!

The Manwarings said...

When I read the title of your post, I was afraid I would find one of my children hanging from the tree. Way to go on the $12 tree.

Brandon and Emily said...

I don't know Elena I am a fan of the "cousin it" tree! Carter is to cute.

Nichole said...

Thank you for stopping by my blog today and for leaving a comment! :o)

Jennifer P. said...

SO glad you took a picture of the first one! That. was. priceless.!!!

"The Queen in Residence" said...

Kids are so funny. I am sure that they saw nothing wrong with it, it after all was exactly how they envisioned it. (much laughing here) But the second one is all the more precious, look at all those sweet things they made at school. I love bringing those things out.

Miki said...

$12.00 and it looks better than our "good tree!" Oh MY!!! Angels from heaven DID sing, and I snagged a great idea from you....give the kids a super duper "mom doesn't have to worry about that one" tree.

Perfect Christmas...then I can decorate our tree in "Mommy masterpieceness". MMmmmmm...next Christmas should be good....

Mmmmmm....

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

I love the cousin It tree. And love that your kids claimed it for their own. My kids would probably prefer the cousin it tree over the pretty one :-)