craig put the (artificial) tree up this weekend.
then the kids had begged for three days straight to decorate it.
i was finally ready (as i could be) to do it.
it was (and always is) chaos.
this year they each had their special ornaments in their own box.
it made a difference in the amount of fighting & grabbing ornaments from each other.
i decided something this year….
the way the tree looks is not a big deal.
the ornaments can go wherever the kids want.
they CAN hang them….by themselves….they don't need my help.
and they WANT to do it.
we did it together and i didn't un-do all the work they just did when they weren't looking.
maybe everyone reading this has already had this AHA! moment
but i think so many mommies still want a perfect tree that is not for touching.
why?
why does it have to be matchy-matchy and perfectly decorated?
i have decided that ours will be just how the kids want it to be…however they decorate it.
and i can't wait to see what they come up with.
ahhhhh…..now i will get off my soapbox.
we finished and it was time for pie.
i will admit that i was crabby during all this "family time" but i tried my best to control it.
the chaos gets to be a bit much sometimes…even for me.
but in the end they will remember the decorating and not my mood.
i hope.
and only 2 ornaments got broken….by ME!
want to play find-the-teenager-who-can't-stand-her-family again…..
Diana Cornielle - I can totally relate to you in so many ways! The-teenager-who-can’t-stand-her-family, the chaos during “family times”, the moodiness of a mom who just wants peace and quiet, the urge to fix things up after the kids decorate their own tree but most of all the fun and memories these times bring to us, as well!! Great photos!
Ashlie - First off, I love the new header pic! Have you decided on a name for your new business yet? Because you so need to offer your talent for sale!
And I completely agree with your thoughts about the tree, even though I don’t have kids yet. But I’m sure I’ll have to remind myself of it when I do have kids. Since I tend to be a little controlling when it comes to decorating and all. 😉
Thanks for sharing your family time with us!
Rachel - My hubby wants more kids…yes he wants to have another baby…because of times like these…Christmas and the laughter and chaos. You have a beautiful family…that pie looks yummy!
Tonya - “the way the tree looks is not a big deal.”
ummm…amen to that! My tree is so silly looking and we ended up with all ornaments on the top half due to Mia’s obsession with trowing them across the room! Love it though..such a blessing and reminder of the little ones that roam my home…
hope you have a very merry christmas!
meredith - Too funny. I just read this post and laughed with great empathy. I did a post yesterday which is so similar, even down to the three days to get the energy to trim the tree and the individual portions of decorations to alleviate arguments. I didn’t write it, but I was also thinking how I can be a fun vacuum at this time of year, wanting everything to be perfect and why do I do that? Thanks for the reminder.
krista - great pics as always…but now i’m in trouble because my youngest wants to know all about your furball dog in the pictures….we already have one!
carissa - loving the new festive banner…
AND…
okay…. i am raising my right hand… i promise to be BETTER about letting the ornaments “BE”… at the bottom of the tree where the girls put them! 🙂
you rock mmama!
Lisa - Good for you Meg! I’m sure no matter where the decorations hang, the tree will be filled with the beauty of your family and the wonderful pie you shared afterwords. Even -the-teenager-who-can’t-stand-her-family fills it with love 🙂
take care,
Lisa
Sandy - Is that her in the background of the last picture? I did notice her in her coat and shorts helping with the tree. She’s a doll…just like my 15 year old son that can’t be around the family without thinking we’re complete morons. 🙂
Love the new attitude, the tree, the pie and Waffle (what a great name!).
Brooke - Goodness…I am SO like that…the ladies put up an ornament…and the second they turn around I cruise over there and put it where I telepathically had told them to put it. Maybe this year will be my AHA moment and I will just enjoy it….but knowing me probably not…haha! At least I think my ladies are begining to realize how nuts their mother is…so they expect and accept it.
I totally love the individual boxes idea…I will definitely have to incorporate that into our way of storage next year!
Aubrey - Oh yeah–the ‘can i wipe my nose on your shirt?’ so so funny–that annie.
Aubrey - I try not to make our tree perfect because I can still remember my mom telling us where to put our ornaments and being so picky and I hated it.
We box our ornaments individually too, but in ugly shoeboxes. Did you find those boxes at Michaels? I like the car ornament, did you make it? My son would love it. My husband has an uglier-than-heck superhero ornament I alwys make him hid in the back, maybe I’ll let him show it this year.
Nina - the tree will be perfect!
and when they are all grown like mine, then you can do it your way……which is what I do now!
cute pics…….
Holly - I FOUND HER!!!! She is participating- all bundle up. I so understand the strong desire to rearrange and tweek yo tree. I also have given up. I don’t think I have had an AHA moment but I just ran out of steam and totally gave up. I used to put up a full size tree in our family room, dining room, sunroom, Master bedroom, and then the kids had a 4 ft tree in their rooms. I don’t have it in me anymore. That is part of adapting- allowing myself to let it go and not stress out over trying to do too much.
traci - I found Lauren but she looked like she was participating.
As for the tree being matchy, matchy and perfect. That is one thing I have FINALLY GOT!!! I also did the whole rearrange when they werent looking thing but decided to stop. I do give some tips on not too many same color bulbs all together, etc, but I let them…I think this yr. they did the whole thing (almost). Love your pictures and your dog is getting SOOOOO BIG and adorable.
Art Cant Hurt - Your new banner looks great!
Did you get a stocking for Waffle yet?
Amanda Rettke - Well…I will leave the aha moment to you… my kids are still too young to be able to decorate a tree… is what I keep telling myself! I LIKE matchy matchy and pretty! You are a good woman.
God bless-
Amanda
Jill - Looks great… the tree and the pie!! You’ve got an award over at my blog. 🙂
amy d - that waffle! such a helper. CUTENESS ALL AROUND!
Kelly - good for you! the pic of the car ornament and your sweet girl below is really good and I love that waffle’s in on the game. Kelly
Amy - muah!
I have the most imperfect tree ever! I love that we let them decorate it…it’s a good memory for them…we’ve all had those crabby moments! It’s alright! Hang in there…you are just like the rest of us!
by the way, I’m not ready for teenagers…I have a 7 year old who thinks he’s the boss…oh, I’m not ready!
Tami - I am joining you on that whole “let the kids do it and don’t fix it behind their backs” thing this year. Our tree has NO ornaments on the bottom foot, but I am thinking that may work to my advantage with our little “Abe-y Baby” anyway.
We only broke one ornament this year – Ashleigh’s new one!
danyele - pie after tree trimming…what a good idea. now, i want some pie!
Staci - Ahhh. So glad to hear that it’s chaotic at other people’s homes too! Yet another reason why I love to blog 🙂 Makes me feel…normal! Actually, I must admit, this year was not so bad 🙂 I had my AHA moment this year as well. I generally am an “all white light” kinda girl…this year, Brian and Connor wanted multicolored…and you know what…it’s really kinda pretty! Sometimes, it’s just not worth the fuss 🙂 AHAAAAA!!!!! (in the biggest vibrato voice I have!)
chris - Looks like fun for the kids , you earn a big gold star for that .
All I need at Christmas is a decorated tree , fake real , fancy or crazy doesn’t matter , its the spirit that counts, glowing lights .
Pumpkin pie is on my list now , asap.
Chris
chris - Yum yummy ,I need to make a pumpkin pie soon , seeing all the thanksgiving feasting across the boarder puts me in the mood too .
The tree is lovely , normally my girls are very involved but they didn’t seem to care this year , well my 7 yr old did help put up her ornaments as well .
Your tree looks perfect , I would have thought it was real if you hadn’t mentioned , they really look great in photos , well I have always had fake so they are very wonderful to me, a decorated tree is all I need decorated any way .
Bring on Christmas
cynthia - love your new banner too!
cynthia - yes…i’m guilty of that too! but the past two years have been different and as you with the same attitude! my little guy absolutely loved filling the tree with ornaments this year and so he did…wherever he found a place AND it wasn’t too bad after all. i haven’t even moved one single ornament!
it’s not like i don’t have several trees to choose from at our house…and mine is in the kitchen! now that one…stay away!
fun times!
callie grayson - the first thing I noticed was the white ipod cords as she is separating the ear buds. i giggled, i was exactly the same way. i am the oldest and didn’t want to be around my younger siblings much less my parents. but hey i got over it and i am very close with my family now and my sister is my best friend. give her a about 8 years and then she will be over the phase!
great photos! everyone looks like they are having a great time. great idea with each one having their own box of ornaments.
I would have to say my favorite photo is the one with your youngest looking up as her brother hanging the ornament. it is very sweet!!!
Trina - It’s too bad that has to be an Aha moment for everyone.. I am hoping that I can just take your advice before I need my own Aha moment about decorating the tree. My tree never looks perfect but I want it to look pretty but mostly that ruins the fun for everyone. So I am reading this at just the right time and hoping to just go with the flow. Thanks…..
xx trina
oh- and I love the individual box idea.. so clever!
Jamie Sampson - I love little moments like that, when you just realize something completely profound and your life is so much better because of it. I used to be a complete clean freak, I am not any more, I don’t have the time or the energy and does to really matter if I have multiple loads of laundry sittng in the laundry basket, nope! 🙂
Love the photos!
Kelly - I love it, your tree looks great! We actually have two trees – one is supposed to be a kid tree, and one my fancy looking tree. Well, guess who is too lazy to put up two trees (and we technically don’t have a good spot for the second). So the kid ornaments go on the one tree that is up, along with my pretty gold ones. And this year the three year old helped so all the ornaments are on the bottom 1/4 of the tree and multiple ornaments on each branch. What can you do though, you know? She is so proud of helping.
And I was that moody teenager just a few short (10) years ago and I’ve grown out of it for the most part. 😉 At least there is hope!
kasey - nice talk from the “soap box”. I love it.
I of course HAVE to have MY tree decorated and look pretty.
why, cuz i’m neurotic. luny. crazy.
I wish i had a house big enough to have 2 tree’s. the family one, and the pretty one.
sarah - I love that Waffles looks as though he’s trying to help.
and i completely understand,
I have the same ornament issue. I want each ornament to have even spacing and for the tree to look perfect. Luckily, McKenzie doesn’t care what way it’s done, yet. Once she starts to really help, I’ll have to let go of my need for perfectionism.
jennifer - Ah! So many things… where to begin?
I love the idea of the boxes for each kid. My kids also have their own special ornaments but they’re just packed away in the same box as all the others. Not this year!
I had that AHA! moment with the Christmas tree decorating last year and it was so incredibly freeing and made the whole thing much more enjoyable. What ended up being incredibly hilarious was sitting on the couch watching my husband micro-manage the kids the entire time, re-doing half of what they did. He was horrified that I was content to let it just be a “kid tree”. Who knew?!
Love the tell-tale white cords hanging from the puffy jacket pocket. And who’s that on the computer when everyone else is eating pie? 🙂 That was so me at that age. Except we didn’t have iPods in the olden days…
Ok, gotta go break up a fight and then figure out what’s for dinner.
Thanks for sharing your fun night!
Chelsea jones - I love your blog. It’s very real mom Martha Stewart.
We never decorated our tree. We would come home from school one day after Thanksgiving, and my mom would have the house all spiffy and the decorations in place. I would always love that element of surprise.
lee ann - Way to go Meg! I was crabby too. I think I always am. No matter how much I tell myself I’m not going to be. My 5 and 2 year olds decorated the tree….minus 4 ornaments I did taller than 3.5 feet. But….they were very happy, no arguing, so I let them do it. And that’s just the way it is! No perfect tree in our house. Just happy kids.
Tracy - Well, unfortunately, I seem to be one of “those” moms who prefer the matchy/color coordinated tree – *lol* My kids are 15 now but still don’t help out much. I think I ruined them when they were little and wouldn’t let them help so that nothing got broke and/or didn’t match – much to my husband’s disappointment. But, I can’t turn back time to let them have the freedom of the casual family tree – although, I honestly can’t say I would IF I could either – I guess I am a “mom tree snob” – lol – oh well. Thanks for sharing the pictures and the pie looks Delicious! :o)
amy j. - How many oraments has waffle eaten? So far only 1 by marley. That I know of. Half a gingerbread something. I couldn’t tell what was left. -Corey (not Amy)
PamperingBeki - Very cute! It’s killing me to not have access to my pictures right now. 🙁
I’m definitely one who likes a family/casual/kid decorated tree. Our’s looks like it’s wearing an ornament belt because they’re all in a cluster in the middle, but that’s fine. 🙂
I also got them each a little tree for their bedrooms this year and they are LOVING that!