Deck the Halls

Christmas can be a stressful time. You’re cooking, decorating, wrapping and so much more. And in the end, there’s an ingredient missing, one tree light is burnt out, and there’s tape in your hair. Here’s a few stories from our staff about their funny Christmas experiences.
Our President, Tamara, covers the hectic decorating with Christmas lights and glitter bombs.

“Christmas tree decorating usually happens at our house the second weekend in December. Thankfully, technology has taken care of things like wrestling with strings of Christmas lights. A pre-lit tree has been a real boon because in the past putting the lights on the tree was my job. This chore made me commiserated with Clark Griswold from the movie National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Lights won’t work . . . Lights blow a breaker . . . Lights work, but are in flash mode . . . How the heck do you get them out of flash mode? I was also happy to see tinsel go by the wayside. This stuff is like glitter bombing yourself. It gets everywhere and I mean everywhere! It gets into the laundry, into the kitchen cupboards and in the spring, I get to see it one more time when I clean up the dog doo in the yard. Someone please explain to the dog this stuff isn’t spaghetti!”
Dreading taking down your beautiful tree for the year and storing it? Our manager, Sue Sage, from Lacombe Storage has found the secret!

“Our house has the tradition of decorating the first weekend of December. My lovely daughter and I do the
majority of the decor over the holidays. Once we bought a new 6 foot tree, we had read that each foot of tree should have a 100 lights. Being the over achievers we are, we bought 800 lights. It looked beautiful until it came time to take it apart. So a new idea was born. Get out the saran wrap and wrap that tree up tight. It has made for easy set up each year. The biggest issue I have now is having someone in the house who would have our house covered in tinsel and twinkle as soon as the cold hits.”
Santa is real! Ashley Strauss, our Drayton Valley Storage Manager, talks about the excitement of a child on Christmas.

“I loved the magic in my son’s eyes when you would talk about Santa; or the excitement Christmas morning when he sees the brightly lit tree with the milk and cookies all gobbled up by Santa. He has never let anyone tell him that Santa isn’t real, in fact he would defend the big guy’s existence until he was blue in the face! One particular time, my son was about 6, a classmate had told him it was the parents who put all the presents under the tree. His Response “It is definitely Santa, my mom sure as heck wouldn’t buy me all those presents!!!”
Thanks for the vote of confidence Son!!”
Don’t forget your pets, Christmas is their favourite time to be sneaky, cute and destructive. Kayla Akerstrom, our Medicine Hat Storage Manager has both a cat and dog. Luckily it’s just the cat that’s the issue.

“The last week of November our Christmas tree normally goes up and last year we discovered something! In our home, plastic Christmas decorations are a God send! After being laid up with back issues last year, our cat — ironically named Mistletoe – decided our Christmas tree needed to come down before Christmas had even begun. She broke most of my glass, hand-me-down bulbs on the tree. This year we bought plastic bulbs and put the tree up on a table with a spray bottle ready in hopes she will learn her lesson. This is definitely why we can’t have nice things. Might have to try the Pinterest felt tree on the wall that they suggest for families with little ones who are still learning not to touch.”
Do you have similar stories or a funny Christmas story to share? Drop it in the comments below! Wishing you a Merry Christmas from all of us at Storage Group Alberta to yours!
–SGA Staff