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Christmas is a big job at the Munro House Bed and Breakfast in Jonesville. The twelve foot tall tree alone takes two days to assemble. One full day is needed to build the tree and string 3,000 lights. Another full day is required to place 3,000 ornaments in proper alignment. When it is finished, it is spectacular. But the job is tedious, methodical, and time consuming. Help is enlisted to complete the chore around Thanksgiving. This year’s helper was from India and staying at the Munro House on business. Surya had a 30 day reservation that could not be spent only doing business, so helping to trim the tree was a welcome respite from his immersion in his new position in America.
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All of this work is meant to be enjoyed for as long as possible, so the tree is the last item to come down. This year, the disassembling took place on January 15. Once again, help was enlisted to complete this chore. 3 little girls spent a couple of hours with me. First, we repacked all of the nesting boxes that looked a lot like real gifts under the tree. Then we removed the bulbs, by size, from bottom to top, and placed them in storage containers. Then we went to the top and removed each layer of lights while also taking down one layer of branches at a time. Each string of lights was placed in a plastic shopping bag. Each layer of branches were bound together. All were placed in a huge mesh bag. Two hours later, the twelve foot tree and all the lights were put into storage.
The task was not complete until the entire area was cleaned and all of the furniture was put back into its original place. The kids were kept busy with all of these little jobs and fought over who was going to work the vacuum cleaners. Kids like to work, and I am good at assigning appropriate tasks to give them responsibility and experience in completing a multi-level assignment. We had a blast and celebrated with cake.
Mike Venturini
“Life is good in Jonesville”