Stitching with Elli

Nellie found a very interesting pile of stuff on the floor.

There were shiny beads…pretty balls….and BIG pile of green stuff!!

“What is all this stuff?” wondered Nellie as she pulled out some beads and tried wearing them. “Someone is going to be in trouble…. This is a big mess!”

Susan and Samantha wandered in…”What is this stuff?” asked Susan.

“I didn’t do it!!” protested Nellie. She hastily put the beads back in the bag. ” I’m innocent! I found it like this.”

“Are you suuuuuure you didn’t do it?” teased Samantha.

“Look I found star!” squealed Susan. She didn’t care who had made the mess. It was a fun mess!

“Why is there green stuff on the star? What is it? Shouldn’t stars be yellow? What is it for, is it a hat?” Susan had climbed to the top of the pile. She kept staring at the thing in her hand and asking questions as she waved it around.

She finally decided what it must be….”It’s a sceptre!! I’m queen! Queen of this fuzzy mountain of green stuff!”

“Stars always looked white to me when I looked at them. There is no way to attach it to your head, so I don’t think it is a hat. Maybe it is a sceptre…but sceptres are longer than that aren’t they?”  Nellie replied. “The bigger question is what is this green thing!?!? Emily isn’t going to like it in the middle of her floor.”

“Guys!! I think I know what this is!!” Samantha tried to get their attention from the other side of the pile. She was bouncing up and down she was so excited she knew the answer.

“It is a Christmas tree!!!!!” She finally had their attention.

“A what? A tree??? Samantha, this is not a tree. Trees don’t come in pieces.” Nellie said this, indignant that Samantha thought she could be fooled by something so ridiculous.

Samantha was trying to explain that Christmas trees sometimes come in pieces… that they aren’t exactly real, but they look like it when they are put together. Nellie was not easily convinced. Susan was willing to believe it, she said maybe the tree broke in pieces when it fell in the woods.

They were still discussing this as Alice wandered in…

“Ooooh pretty Christmas ornaments. Is it time to put them up yet?”

Right behind Alice, Debbie came racing in…she had heard the word “Christmas” and it drew her like a magnet.

“What are we doing? Are we putting up the tree?? How exciting! Can I put on the star??” Debbie bubbled. She had climbed up on the highest place she could reach, so that she could see everything.

Attracted by the commotion, Rose, Bridget, and Felicity came running in the room to see what was going on. Suddenly, there were dolls climbing all over the pile. Such talking and chattering…

“It’s a Christmas tree!!”

“No it isn’t! It is plastic!”

“whoohoo! Watch me jump off here!!”

“Beads!!! yay! I love beads!”

“Where are the lights??”

“Debbie!! don’t you dare jump!!”

“Wow! What a lot of ornaments!!”

“Race you to the top!”

“No fair! You have a head start!”

“Off my green mountain! I’m the queen here!!” (Susan was brandishing her “sceptre” and trying to defend her domain.)

Josefina came in and settled the “It is a tree…It isn’t a tree” dispute. She said it was and more specifically it was Emily’s tree. She had seen it last year. Not only did she settle the question of what it was, she found the base! They decided Emily would be very pleasantly surprised if they got started putting up the tree for her.

Josefina  enlisted Samantha’s aid to assemble the base.

“Push hard, Samantha! It has to snap in.” Josefina told her.

Samantha couldn’t quite get the last leg snapped in, so Josefina steadied it while Bridget stood on it and bounced.

“Wheewww! Hold it steady, Josefina!” she squealed.

“Done! Now we just have to plug it in”, said Josefina picking up the cord.

“What are these short cords for?” asked Rose.

“The short cords are for the lights. It is a rotating base. It has two plugs so the light strings don’t tangle.. Emily likes it to rotate, because she can decorate all the sides of the tree.” Josefina explained.

After they got the cord situation straightened out, it was time to put the tree in the base.

“Are you sure you have it lined up right, Bridget?” Debbie asked her.

“I think so, but all of you will need to help. This is  heavy!!” Bridget replied.

“Does everyone have a good hand hold?” Debbie asked. “Heave Ho!!! Liiiiiiift!!!”

“Is it in the base now?” Rose asked.

“I think so! Are we ready for the  next section?” Debbie bounced up and down on the middle to make sure it was in securely.

“Whew, these branches need to be fluffed!” muttered Samantha as she separated the branches in front of her face.

They put up the rest of the sections….I’m not sure how. But there they are all assembled  😉

There were dolls crawling everywhere! Josefina had put them to work…Fluffing branches…Straightening limbs…. and adjusting things.

“Can I start putting on ornaments yet?” Debbie begged.” They are so pretty. I want to see them on the tree.

“Not yet!” came Josefina’s muffled voice from under the tree where she was working.
“Next come the lights…and the bows…and THEN the ornaments. They go on almost last. The very last thing is the beads. ”

“Oh” said Debbie, deflated “That sounds like a lot of work.”

That is a lot of work! Whew! The dolls have a long way to go. I wonder what it will look like when they are done.

What do you put up at your house….an artificial tree or a real tree?