Well, the Christmas tree is up. We drove to the mountains (with our permit, of course), hiked in the bitter cold, cut down the best we could find, and brought it home.

The trunk bowed slightly, especially at the bottom. We set it up, but in order to get it to look straight, the tree was actually at quite the unbalanced angle in the tree stand.

We put the lights on, and the ornaments (I noticed we have specific tastes - wood, felt, glass, and pine cones), and I went to bed.

I heard the sound at 1am. It was a slow but steady crash; with some measure of lightness to it's heavy thud.

The three had fallen to the ground. Miraculously, none of the ornaments were broken.

Plan B. We cut the bottom at an angle. We did this so the tree would look straight, even though it wasn't. About four days later, it crashed down again. Once again the ornaments - and we have a lot of breakable ones - were completely fine.

Plan C. Leave the tree as is.

So now, our tree stands tall, crooked, bent, and full of imperfection; and it stands proudly. We aren't trying to fix it. We've accepted it. We worked so hard for our tree - which now looks like it's about to topple, since we aren't hiding it anymore - and yet it's more stable now than it's ever been.

Appearances can be deceiving. When we look most like we are about to topple, that may in fact be when we stand, the most tall and stable, in all our imperfection.