This year, I did the majority of my decorating during the day, but made sure to save the trimming of our trees for when the kids could all join in. This was the first year that the kids were "more helpful" than ever and they truly cherished opening ornaments -- sharing stories about them -- and hanging them wherever they pleased on the trees.
The first tree that we put up was the one that I had years ago in my apartment (before I met Steve), then I used it in my house, then our house together in Lansing and finally ... in this house in the family room. It's not a big tree and the prelit lights are now all burned out. But I still put lights on it and love seeing it in the room where we spend most of our time. We decorate it with red and gold and special ornaments and it makes me so happy to continue using it.
Jack came upstairs from his nap to find the tree set up, lit and simply waiting to have ornaments on it. He took a moment to just lay down and look at it.
I let him put some ornaments on it while we waited a few minutes for the girls to get home from school.
I stressed the importance of opening the ornaments carefully and then putting all of the packaging back together. We didn't have a single broken ornament and they worked like little "elves" together in a workshop.
I let them, more or less, design the tree themselves.
I laughed a few times because most of the ornaments ended up being at each person's eye level and we then had to space them out a bit.
Jack worked from his own space on the floor and did a great (almost meticulous) job of keeping the boxes organized.
Even the girls helped to stack and put the empty boxes back away.
Many trips later, the tote was filled back up boxes and I am anticipating lots of help when it comes time to pack everything back away after the holiday season. Fingers crossed.
The perfect tree for this room:
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At the top of the stairs, I like to set up a little tree for the kids. Originally, it was one that Steve's parents were planning to throw away (the stand was broken), but Steve had rescued it and we glued it back together. It lasted a couple of years until it was finally not salvageable. The kids really wanted one upstairs, so I made a quick trip into town and picked up this $10 tree. It's not much, but they love decorating it.
And the best part about the other tree? I never really threw it away. I used wire cutters and took all of the branches off it and use them throughout the house to decorate with ...
The boys helped with this tree while the girls were in school and had a lot of fun.
We only ended up with one broken ornament.
This little boy absolutely loved the ornaments and lights.
Seriously, they kept him entertained for almost the entire time that Jack and I were trimming the tree.
Complete with a sock monkey family at the base of the tree:
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The last tree that we put up is the big one in our family room. The girls are near experts now when it comes to helping with the branches and we are able to assemble it in record time.
They gave Jack a little bit of direction and he was excited to help too.
Jimmy kept touching the branches over and over again. I think that he just liked the interesting feel of them.
We paused partway through for a hot chocolate break and Sophia couldn't stop smiling. It was the perfect day for her.
Hanging special ornaments on the tree:
I noticed later that a lot of Jack's ornaments were hung on the strings of lights, rather than the branches of the tree. Ha!
A few more sips before grabbing some more ornaments:
And then later that night, right before bed, Samantha got to place the angel on the top of the tree. The kids take turns every year and it was Sam's turn. (I *may* have had to look back at last year's pictures to confirm).
All decorated:
wow! looks perfect to me!
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