The Tree Is Up!

Yes, the tree is up, and truthfully, it went up the week before Thanksgiving. My friend Emily always decorates for Christmas in mid-November and this year I decided that her approach is brilliant. Em says that she decorates early so that she can enjoy the holiday season without stressing over decorating. 'Nuf said. Out came the box on November 22nd.

So the tree went up ... and 2/3 of the tree had lights on it ... but the other strands of lights, keepsake ornaments and Christmas decorations had mysteriously vanished. Our partially lit, but undecorated tree sat that way until Black Friday when I finally conceeded that the missing box had probably gone out to the trash accidently last year when I got rid of a lot of my old, worn out Christmas clutter. I came home from shopping (at 6:15 am mind you) with some new lights and then--for the first time ever--let the kids decorate the "mom" tree. Sometime during my ridiculous hour-long wait outside Target, I realized that it would still be weeks until I could afford, let alone decide on, new ornaments for the tree and all the while the kids would be begging to put up the remaining ornaments. What kind of a scrooge would I be to tell my kids, "No, you can't decorate the Christmas tree" if I don't have a kid one that they can do themselves?

Anway, the kids had a great time putting up the white crocheted snowflakes from Grandma Fife that I adore and am so relieved didn't get thrown away. They also managed to find a few other random ornaments, cookie cutters and small figurines and bells that all made their way to the tree. It is truly, truly random ... but oddly cheery. Yes, I do miss having a "Mom" tree to decorate, but it was kinda nice to let go of some of my normal control-freakness and let the kids enjoy the season.

My Elves

Next on the agenda: dragging the kids down to the seasonal isle at Wal*Mart for the third annual "Hey, we make all of you look good" Christmas pictures. Be watching your mailboxes!