Putting up the Christmas Tree

As tradition would have it, we set up the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We said goodbye to our company, had a race to see how fast we could get the house cleaned up and then Jon and I climbed up into the attic to retrieve all the holiday decorations.  We had a family meeting before we got started.  I ask that we all get along and be patient with each other.  In years past, this activity always turns ugly before we are done.  There is just so much going on and the kids have an energy level that is hard to keep up with and before you know it....well, I'll just leave it at that!  I think things went very well this year.  After we got the tree stalk up and the top on, I asked the kids if they like how the tree looked.  I got a few thumbs down, so we finished putting all the limbs on!  I really tried not to control how the tree got decorated and let the kids work together and do it themselves....so if you were to come into my home you would find the tree bare naked on the back and sides and all the decorations huddled together at about the three feet mark!!  I love that my tree is covered with mostly homemade ornaments that the kids and I have done together over the past
4-5 years.  I love that I have pictures of my kids on the tree from previous years.  It is fun to see how much they have grown in a year's time.

 

Oh the joys of trying to get a group picture....

This ornament was hand painted by my sister in law Tanya.  I love it!!

Macy LOVES to hang out under the tree.  So much so, that when we get up in the morning,

we can see that she has been into mischief during the night by the evidence of ornaments all over the floor!!

Braden has found a few random things around the house

 that he thinks should be on the tree as well!!

Jon gave me this nativity set 13 years ago this Christmas.  I love that is it simple and beautiful and I'm pretty sure that this is my most favorite Christmas decoration.