If you are here, you must have read part I of Christmas is Coming and want more of the details of the story? I hope so. I did not expect to feel invigorated after the first post but I did. It was freeing to share some of the highlights of my life story as it relates to Christmas with you. I want to thank and recognize all of you that reached out to me after reading with similar stories. When it comes to God, you never know what He will use or how. (This is why I just do what I do and leave the rest to Him).

Let’s take it back to the porch, shall we? Have you ever been so frustrated with decorating a Christmas Tree that you wanted to throw it on the porch or out the door? Go ahead, raise your hand. I get it. I have been there and no matter how hard we try to not be like our parents, we are in some ways. I listen to my hubby sometimes, I really do. Other times, his ideas are well, just stupid. (I’m so glad the grandkids are not reading this, they would be telling me that is a bad word. lol) One of his “stupid” ideas was that he wanted a “real” Christmas tree one year, it happened to be the year that my “faux” tree broke and he didn’t want to spend the money to buy a new one. So you know, he used that line, “I have always liked a real tree” let’s do that this year. (Does anyone know how to add emojis to this blog thing? I need an eye roll button). I tried to be a good wife and go along with this idea. We went out to the tree farm which was nothing like it is on the Hallmark Channel around here, we looked at trees, he found one for $25 and decided it was the one. Meanwhile, I found one for a $100 and he looked at me like “have you lost your mind, Clark? That won’t go through the front door.” I may have forgotten to mention that after a few years of a real tree with the first husband, I did only faux trees after that. I love a Christmas Tree but not a real one. We settled on the $25 tree that he wanted.

We loaded it up and took it home and I began the decorating process. It took forever. Everything was sliding off that tree, no amount of wire was holding anything on it. I don’t know what kind of tree it was but it was clearly not the right kind to hold ornaments, lights, and all the things that Alisa Berry puts on a Christmas tree. Well, several hours into this process and it looks like crap. (need a poop emoji also) When I say things were sliding off, they were on the floor and this looked worse than that first tree I had even though I had nice ornaments and tons of lights. Well, the Berry, could see my frustration. He knew it was coming. He heard the stories of the tree heading out the front door in fast and furious movements but he had never actually seen anyone do it. I don’t cry, I just get mad. I was mad and crying. This is not a good combination. I began taking everything off the tree, (I never said I was as crazy as my mother, I at least had enough sense to take the ornaments off first) and he was nervous. I was slinging things around, cursing, and in a fit of rage. That damn tree was headed out the door. If it could not be beautiful, then it was going out the door and there was no stopping me. He just watched. (He really is not stupid, he just has stupid ideas). Once I got everything off that tree, out the front door, off the front porch, down the stairs it went. I tossed it in the yard. I was laughing and crying at the same time. That was it, I had finally turned into my mother.

Back to the story. It was at this moment that the Berry who has many stories I could share with you about why he is a great husband but he might use those against me one day if we get a divorce so I can’t give him too much credit. (again, I need emojis!) He looked at me and said, “We can get you the tree that you want”, I know how important this is to you.” So we got into the minivan and headed to Fads N Frames. If you are not a local, this was our Hobby Lobby before we knew about Hobby Lobby and honestly they did Christmas right. I miss them. We bought a faux tree and I decorated it and all was right in my world until the Berry, had another idea. You see he is not a wasteful man, and he could not just throw that tree we paid a good $25 for away. So while I am decorating the one on the inside, he is outside doing his best Clark Griswold thing. He put the tree in a stand and grabbed some huge bulb lights and slung them in the worst way on that tree. I tried to tell him they were not going to stay on that tree but you know, he is still a man so he did not listen. Finally he came in and said, nothing will stay on that damn tree. (he never said I was right in so many words but that is what he meant). This part of the story is only important because you have to know that I can do tacky or what I lovingly call “keeping up with the Joneses”. (no disrespect if your last name is Jones)

The Berry loves Christmas as much as I do, and as long as we are spending money on what he wants, it is all good. Enter the next dumb idea, not stupid because I was in on this one. We decided after years of laughing at the tacky blowups that everyone in our neighborhood had, there was only one thing left to do. We needed a Grinch blowup. That damn tree needed a Grinch. This tree had nearly stole Christmas from me. So off to Home Depot we went and purchased our first blow up. We left that tree up with nothing on it and we had a Grinch blowup next to it, we left some of the large light bulb lights on the ground and strung one end through the Grinch’s hands. Bam! We had the funniest blowup situation in the neighborhood. We couldn’t beat them, that damn tree was not beating us, so we took the mood and rolled with it. I think this is kind of how Jesus must have felt when he turned water into wine. I don’t know I wasn’t there but we were proud of ourselves. Christmas was saved even if I do show my mother in me.

Why did I share this story with you? One, it is funny. Two, it is significant in my life because it was the first time that my husband understood the significance of the the tree to me. Finally, it is because this is exactly what people mean when they say you must fail your way to success. I have failed at many things including Christmas trees many times before I got to where I decorate them the way I do now. You will no doubt do the same. It is fine. Throw that tree on out the door if you need to (maybe make sure the kids aren’t home first) and get it out of your system. There is freedom in failing.

What if I told you that I can take all of this failing, heartache, and cursing and turn it into something you can use to not fail? I can. This is why after years of asking me for it, I finally did it. (in all honesty, I am still doing it as I right this blog post and I am getting ready to head out of town for vacation) I created my course on “How to decorate a Christmas Tree like Alisa Berry”. I am not throwing any trees out the front door in this course (unless you want that as a blooper?). I am sharing what works for me and how I create these gorgeous Christmas trees step by step so you don’t have to curse, you don’t have to buy a blowup and let your husband do his best Griswold, you can easily learn to decorate a tree like me. It launches on July 10, 2023. I hope you will consider it. I keep it fun like these posts.

I have one last thing to add to this post today. I believe that God has a sense of humor. I know that my God does anyway. If he can take the hurt and turn it into the joy that I receive with each tree I decorate, then he can laugh. When you get frustrated over things, remember this, “we have to have the storms to have the rainbows”. One does not exist without the other. God created the rainbow to be there after the storms in our lives and anyone can claim the rainbow. Rainbows are beautiful, full of color, and make you smile. This is what it means to live life boldly.