Trimming the Tree

It was always a tradition growing up that we would go pick out a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and put it up.  We knew every year with out fail we would wake up on that Friday morning with Mom busting into our rooms singing "It's the most wonderful time of the year."  She would be so happy and this was the only day of the year that I looked forward to her busting in my room singing at the top of her lungs (any other time she got a death look and a grunt.)  After the search for the perfect tree was over and it was in our living room we would wait and decorate it on Sunday night to let the tree "fall out".   That two day period with a naked Christmas tree was pure torture for me....it just doesn't seem right to have a tree in your house undecorated (no offense Mom).  But we always a lot of fun on Sunday night after dinner when my Mom would put on Christmas music and we would have hot cocoa while the three of us would spend then next couple of hours placing ornaments and tinsel all over the tree.

I want to have lots of Christmas traditions with Ivy too.  It's something to look forward to every year and it's something that I want to be engraved into her mind as some of her favorite memories.  I want to have the Christmas traditions that she will want to make her own someday to share with her family.

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year and we put up our tree early to make things seem a little more festive.  I know that putting up a Christmas tree or Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving makes some people cringe but we didn't do it to pass Thanksgiving.  We wanted things to seem more homey and warm while people were here visiting.  A Christmas tree just gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling and that's what I wanted everyone to feel when they walked into my living room that day.  And lucky for me, we now have a fake tree so there is no naked tree to let fall out for two days (not that I would be able to wait anyway).  We decorate the tree immediately while listening to the soundtrack for "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

This year Ivy really got into the decorating and we had so much fun.  She knew exactly how to put the hooks on the ornaments and place them on the branches exactly where she wanted them.  It made me so proud to watch her.  And see that silver icicle ornament hanging down right there at the bottom of the tree?  Before she but it on she asked me what it was and I told her it was an icicle.  She looked at me puzzled for a moment and then very seriously said "No Mommy, it's a carrot."  All I could do was smile.

I love how she didn't move from her spot while decorating.  She put all her ornaments within two feet of each other.  Chris suggested that I show her how to space them evenly but I didn't.  She put the ornaments on the tree where she wanted and I thought it was perfect.  And the picture below is one of my favorites of all time of Ivy.  She picked up my Georgia Bulldog ornament and she got so happy!  She said "Oh Mommy!  This is my favorite!"

More Christmas to come later...we had a blast!