Decorated in Sparse

Whew! Today we did our traditional "putting up the decorations and tree". It was tough last year with an eight month old...in some respects it was easier getting the stuff up this year, but there are consequences with Willow about. So, this year, between the cat (who within ten seconds of the tree being up, was climbing in the middle of it!!) and said toddler--we have decided to decorate a bit more sparsely this year. We always decorate tastefully small, mainly because we have a mixed bag of X-Mas and Hannukah, so we don't want to overwhelm the house. But. This year, glass ornaments (except for some very special ones on the top) are out. Also, some of the smaller ornaments are not going up this year. And some decorations that we have had for years, that have gone through one child's lifetime--um, I don't know if they will make it this year. Some are out of reach. Some are sentimental, but are child-worn already--so, I have left them out within her reach, hoping we can teach her to be "gentle". (And if not, hey, those after X-mas specials on decorations--I can already see I will be there...)

Not that all the decorations are non-child friendly. Here are Willow and Michael playing with the wooden Hannukah playset I bought them last year:


Oh, and Michael is holding a little Santa toy there too...



This is one of the wonderful things about this tradition--everyone opening things up from last year, remembering them, finding them new again.

Here is Michael setting up the Christmas Day countdown tree, Willow watching...



Earlier, when we had just put up the tree, put on the holiday music, getting ready to put on lights and ornaments, Willow got aquainted with the tree.



Like I said, this year was a bit easier to do than last, but it was still pretty hectic--I did not even have time to get my camera, I used my cell phone for the not to distict photos above. And I realize I don't even have a picture of the finished tree yet. I am just happy it is up and decorated and that, so far, Willow has only taken several ornaments off and on and off and on; that she has only broken one small (and cheap) snowglobe; that Michael only had to be told to put his special ornaments on twice; that the cat only climbed the tree twice...um, yeah--this might be a Loooong month....