2 socks, 2 tooth brushes and 2 screwdrivers later...

We have a somewhat vertical family Bennett Christmas tree.

The yearly raising of the Bennett family Christmas tree began 3 days ago.
I noticed a crack in the base of our tree and it went downhill from there.
Tom Bennett Broke-It, accidentally snapped the base into 2 pieces while trying to fix it. I should have known better than to let him near the base, as he usually ends up breaking toys whereever he goes. This is why our friends hide their kids toys when he comes to visit and why I refer to him as "Tom Broke-It"

Tom assured me that he could fix it so I could have my tree upright that day. I suppose I should've mentioned to him that I also wanted it straight and vertical. But I was thrilled to have him working on my side to get the tree up Sunday, as once I decide I want something done, it HAS to be finished right away or I will shrivel up and die.
No, seriously. I would die a horrible death to a place full of not quite upright Christmas trees.

So, I braved the traffic and people at Target to get a new tree base (once again very leary of Tom's plan). He fashioned together what appeared to be a base for our skinny fake tree...but when we let go of it, our tree did this.



So we played with different items around the house to help stabalize our tree and keep it from looking all wonky, as wonkiness is not tolerated by my OCD tendancies.

We tried stuffing some old toothbrushes down the base...to no avail.
A couple of my old gym socks...worked better, but only for a minute.

At last, we tried some screwdrivers...and it worked! My wonky tree was not so wonky anymore! But if anyone catches a glimpse of the base, this is what they will find.
(although the screwdriver just seemed somewhat appropriate).



3 days (of having little hands to help) later...we have a mostly decorated tree.
I say mostly decorated because I still have a few boxes of balls left to hang.
To the normal naked eye, my tree looks complete, but to the not-so-normal eye of a Christmas tree junkie, there is still plenty of room to hang more red and green coordinated ornaments!!
I have my Mom to thank for the coordinating Christmas tree issue- she is queen of coordinating Christmas trees and I send her blue ornaments for her red/green tree just for kicks. I think it must be subliminal payback for the years of matching outfits my sister and I were made to wear.

But here we have it, the Broke-It Bennett Family Christmas tree 08 (which really looks eerily similar to the 03, 04, 05, 06 and 07 versions).

And it only took 3 days,
2 socks,
2 toothbrushes,
2 screwdrivers,
4 "helping hands"
3 naptimes without the "helping hands",
3 shattered ornaments (2 of which were very special),
a pitcher of margaritas
and a couple valium (well not really, but my nerves could've used some).