The North Pole - A New Tradition

 When I was growing up we had a special cabinet door.  No not the kind where little Indians came to life.  That was at my friends house. The inside of this door was marked with years of growth.  It's where my siblings and I recorded our height.  I'm not sure how often we would mark our changes, but I always loved it.  I would stand with my back straight, trying desperately to make myself a little taller while my mom or dad measured me.  My parents still live in the same house, so it's a fun walk down memory lane to go over there and open that cabinet.  The markings a reminder of my childhood.

I knew I'd want to do something similar when I had kids, but I also knew I probably wouldn't stay in the same house.  I had to think outside the box here.  For months I wondered what I could use.  Or if I should just rip off an existing door in my house when I eventually move.

As Christmas approached I had an idea.  The North Pole!  Don't act confused, you totally know what I'm talking about.

I loved the challenge of turing this idea into a reality!

We went to Home Depot, looking for a large wooden something-or-other that we could use as the pole.    And we found nothing.  While walking down the aisles I saw little PVC pipes, calling out to me!  We found a huge pipe, and had a grumpy employee cut it to 6 feet 6 inches.  I told him cheerily "we're using this to make the north pole!!"  He faked a smile and walked away.  But his poo poo attitude didn't alter my excitement.

Next came the red and white spray paint.  White went on first.  And it stood in our garage drying for several hours.  I'm sure our neighbors walked by wondering about my new stripper pole.

Next, I taped three inch painters tape spaced three inches apart.  That sucked.  Talk about time consuming.  After that, we sprayed red and peeled off the tape.

Our red and white striped pole stood in our house for weeks (and I never took a picture of it in this stage).  We didn't know how to make legs, and decided we didn't care for a while.

Finally we agreed on using L brackets, and we went to the basement one night to get the legs attached.

Nate drilled and I screwed the screws.  It was a mess and we had a baby grabbing everything she could grab.  But we did it!  Our north pole had legs!  

Sometime in the middle of the painting and arguing discussing how to attach legs, I made this little sign.  I found it blank at Hobby Lobby, my BFF, and wrote on it with a gold pen.  I also attached a giant gold ball to a coupling at the top.

I haven't explained how this could be like my cabinet have I?  Well, I decided that each Christmas Eve we would measure our kids on the back side of the Pummel Pole!  And when we move we can take this ridiculously large pole with us.  And our kids can get excited every year to see how much they've grown. 

I love traditions.  Don't you?