I’m back from my vacation! I was up in central Maine at my family’s house for Christmas and also seeing family I haven’t seen since June or July. It was great to be up there and to unplug for 5 days. I’m back in Boston now, and will be here for the rest of the week. My next infusion is next Monday, and then next Tuesday I head back to Nashville.

I have pictures to recap my time off … and a story that you can probably guess the outcome of based on the title of this post.

The 12-foot Christmas tree – check out the story below the pictures!

The centerpiece of the Christmas dinner that I was too sick to eat – beef tenderloin wrapped in bacon.

It was a teensy bit chilly in Maine. (Also, that alarm is for medication, so don’t worry, you read that right.)

A bit blurry, but a cute picture of Gus (the Berner) and Piper (Cavalier King Charles spaniel) cuddling.

My dad picked these up for me (and a matching one for my sister) when he was at the series-winning game. I’m so glad to have this memorabilia!

No trip to the Bangor area is complete without stopping in at my uncle’s pub/restaurant, known for their “American eats and Irish treats.”

It was a beautiful white Christmas for sure.

And now for the story …

My mom and sister went up to Maine last Saturday to get the house ready for Christmas before my dad and I joined on Tuesday after my infusion and mass in the Portland area. They picked up our beautiful, 12-foot tree on Sunday, but they needed the dump truck to bring it from the farm to the house. They got it all decorated with the big ornaments that normally can’t be hung because they’re too big for the size of the tree and the size of the branches.

They met my dad and me in Portland on Tuesday (Christmas Eve), where we had lunch and went to church before driving up to the house in the Bangor area. Christmas Eve and Christmas day everything was fine. We opened presents and hung out in the living room near the tree for most of the day on Christmas, and on the day after Christmas.

The day after Christmas, my grandmother was at my house when she got a call that her generator stopped running. (If you have watched the national news this week, you’ve probably heard that Maine got hit by an ice storm last weekend, and it was a pretty bad one that left 120,000 people out of power on Christmas Eve. Less than 4,000 people are still out of power now.) Without her generator, her water supply for the entire winter could freeze. Both she and my dad hustled out of the house to get over to her place to try and get it running. I spent most of my day reading and relaxing, including sitting on the couch in the living room.

Around 6:15 Thursday night, I sat on the couch reading when all of a sudden the tree started to fall over, headed directly at me. Based on the speed it was falling and how slow I’m moving right now, there was no way that I could get out of the way. As the tree headed towards me, I put my right hand up and caught it.

My mom came running out of her bedroom as my sister and I screamed, and they picked it off of me. They tipped it back up into the stand and I moved out of that seat as quickly as possible.

Luckily, I’m okay. It was terrifying and I was extremely shaken up, but I wasn’t hurt too badly. The unfortunate thing is that it takes almost nothing to hurt me because of my arthritis. Catching the tree did not break any bones or strain/sprain my wrist, thank goodness. But I have been in a lot of shoulder pain over the past 3 days, to the point where it hurts to move my arm or carry things. I’m not too concerned, especially because I see my Mass Gen rheumatologist this week anyway.

Anyone else have a harrowing experience over Christmas?