“Beedaful Decorationth!”

This is one of the many exclamations (Bennett's the one with the occasional lisp)I hear every time the kids see so much as a wreath on someone’s door. So imagine their delight when we pass that house (everyone has one totally decked out in their neighborhood) almost every day. Thanks neighbors! I was so looking forward to seeing their reaction when I put our decorations up shortly after Thanksgiving. And I had good reason to be. It was like Santa had already come! There was even some tree-hugging going on. We left the ornaments off and let them decorate it later that morning. Such happiness.

I left a few things down to add when I thought the kids needed a little distraction. And Ruby noticed. In fact, she looked at a blank wall that would soon be used for Christmas cards, and with a Vanna White-esk hand motion said in a matter of fact way, “ Mom, we need more decorations right here.” She soon had her wish. Spreading it out definitely added to the fun of decking the halls. I was interested to see how they liked the felt tree I made them last year. I think I need to add some ornaments and presents or something. Besides the initial excitement, they haven't bothered with it much. Not like last year, anyway. Oh well, it still helps to make it feel festive around here.

I like to document how we decorated every year so I can remember in the future. It’s especially fun to see how our Christmas tree situation has evolved over the past few years. 2009, too busy to bother with a tree. 2010, small artificial tree up high so they couldn’t reach. 2011, same artificial tree on the floor with fun kid ornaments. 2012, a real tree with real ornaments, along with the little tree decorated with some more kid-friendly ornaments. It’s just a great representation of how our lives change a little more as they get older.

It was fun getting an real tree again this year. We left it undecorated for a couple weeks while we were busy with other things, and I was almost alright just leaving it with only lights and a star. But we eventually had a fun time trimming it together. I’m terribly bored with my ornaments (which makes it easier to not worry so much about the kids messing with them) I bought years ago when we bought our first real tree together, but I’m not about to go out and buy more with three toddlers, and a big move coming up. It will be fun to refresh my tree decorations in the future. For now, this sparse, ordinary décor will have to do. The kids this it’s the best thing ever, and that’s all I care about anyway.

They haven’t been the most obedient when in comes to leaving the real tree alone (a good 20 little lights were completely destroyed when I turned my back for a couple minutes), but we expected as much. I’m not too strict about it. They seem to remember the rules most of the time.

I loved how I placed this candle lighting Christ’s face last year, so I did it again. And it always warms my heart to see all these stocking hung every year.

The kids have been having fun redecorating their little tree over and over. It’s cute to see how they arrange it, but not so cute finding ornaments all over the house! Oh well.

While I’m all about letting them have a part in the decorating process, I have to draw a line somewhere…

Like I’ve said before, our decorations are simple, but they definitely bring the Christmas spirit around here. The joy in the kids’ voices never gets old as they enjoy this great time of year. It’s mommy heaven. I’ve loved decorating this little house. We’ve had some precious Christmas memories here and I will miss it.