My Facebook status right now. "I had wonderful intentions with our home made gingerbread tree ornaments but its backfiring like crazy. Kaitlyn keeps eating them or pulling off the candies. Gumdrops are not fun when mashed in the carpet. Even our dog likes the cookies. :-/ Sheesh."
I did have such wonderful intentions when I planned to make real gingerbread cookie ornaments. Danelle and I decorated them beautifully! We were so excited to put them on the tree but I have a feeling they are not going to work out long. From the very first night (yesterday!) I have had more STICKY, ICKY, EWWWY, and YUCKY candy around than I can handle. Kaitlyn is taking the candy off the cookies and eating them, spitting them out occasionally, and sometimes accidentally mashing them in my floor.
Bless Kaitlyn's heart. It doesn't matter what I put up, I know this will be a hard year for her and the Christmas tree. I might get some shatterproof bulbs tied with string she can pull on and off as she pleases instead. The tree is going to look funny no matter what though. She WILL pull off the ornaments, and having a six foot tree empty the bottom three feet doesn't sound very pretty. I think buying ornaments that are more kid friendly and not edible or sticky will be a nice compromise.
The dog will benefit from a less enticing tree too. Daisy, Daisy, Daisy. She loves the cookies we put up too. She guards them with her life.
I look forward to Christmas tree night every year. We make it a big deal for our family. Back in the day, I remember driving to the Christmas tree farm (getting lost on the way) and helping our family cut down a tree. They bailed it for free, and we ate popcorn and cocoa at the cutest Christmas tree place in Ohio. Then when at home, we all took turns putting up ornaments (I am sure my Mom fixed later on, haha). These were such wonderful memories, I knew I wanted to start traditions like them for our family.
Every year, I start by decorating the house. For me, this is the longest most dreaded part. I like the scene to be set before we put up our tree. Then, we set up the tree, lights, and bows on the tree (ready to decorate). Shayne picks up a Papa Murphey's pizza and after dinner, we all gather around the tree to decorate. The girls get to put up their yearly ornaments (one for each year), I hang the yearly family ornaments, and Shayne likes putting on hooks and handing over the ornaments. He hangs a couple too, but passing them over seems to be more "his thing." Once all the ornaments are on, Shayne lifts Danelle up in the air to put on the star.
We love this next part; Shayne turns off all the lights in the house, and we prepare for the tree lighting. One by one Shayne turns on the Christmas lights, leaving the tree for last. Finally, he lights the tree and what a pretty sight it is with our shiny star on top. We all stand there a while and soak it in. It's really one of the most fun nights we have as a family. I hope one day my children will cherish these memories as much as I do my childhood and new memories.
Welcome Christmas! Don't go by too fast...
As I was going through pictures today I stumbled across your tree pictures from last year. Ellie is growing up SO fast. But don't worry, she will always cherish her childhood. Both of them will. They are very lucky girls to have such a good mommy.
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