Are You Not Entertained?

Our 8 year old picture tube television finally started showing its age, being cantankerous and giving a dark picture. We researched replacement tv's and found that the proportions of a flat screen style mean only a small tv can fit our cabinet. With great effort, the grandma's started looking for solutions. Ultimately a cooperative effort resulted in Grandma buying a TV, and Granny buying an entertainment center to fit.

We asked for help moving the old cabinet so we could begin assembling the new one, but it was suggested that we should assemble the new cabinet while Grandpa and the uncles were here. Jeff realized there were several issues at play.

1. We still had wrapping paper, toys and all manner of items scattered about the living room from early morning present opening.
2. The Christmas snow village complete with a 1/2 inch layer of fake snow was still displayed atop the cabinet.
3. We had no beer for the laborers who were only semi-voluntarily spending a hunk of their Christmas day working at our house (again).

Phillip, Matthew and Jeff assembled one piece, while Grandpa, Russell and Patrick fixed another. It was quickly apparent that Grandpa's team was much faster, although the home team playfully suggested they were sabotaged by requests to fetch tools and water, and that uncle Matthew giving directions in a heavy German accent was far from helpful!

The extra help was greatly appreciated as Jeff and I could not have assembled it all by ourselves.

The most exciting thing about our new gifts, other than a great picture, is all the space we suddenly enjoy! The new entertainment center is much narrower, but has more shelf space on it, so we've been able to display a greater number of items precious to us. We've also been able to store more books, puzzles and games without taking up closet space which is at a premium in this house. With a less cluttered look, the house is starting to look like a home versus a storage unit and now we can watch movies without the odd and random shades of blue, red and green mixed into the picture.

Thank you to our Moms and Dads! This was a great Christmas present!

*Less than 24 hours after it's installation, Justin took a ballpoint pen and scribbled across the entire TV screen. Thankfully Momma was able to scrub it out.