Oh Christmas Tree

This year I pretty much gave up complete control and let MY tree become the family tree. In years past I liked the majority to be burgundy and gold, with star and teardrop type ornaments with the family ornaments scattered throughout. But with the girls typically getting 3-5 new ornaments a year, I now have no more room for MY ornaments. So this year I kept most of them boxed up and allowed the girls to take control in the tree decorating department. I think they did a fairly good job, though it takes all my will-power to not fix the beads.

One tree tradition that we have is the girls have their own special ornament boxes. Each year they get ornaments from the grandparents, us and other friends and relatives. I make sure to mark them accordingly and then they get placed in their special boxes.

This is the first box for each girl and now I have had to add rubber-maid type ornament boxes for the growing collection. Each section of the box has a label that gives a description of the ornament, the year it was received and who gave it to them. (yes, I know, I have horrible handwriting but lets not focus on that detail!)

The girls really enjoy taking each ornament out and finding out when they got it. This year was especially fun with Madison, as she remembered certain ornaments before opening the box and went searching for those specific ones. The first ones she had to find were the lovely wooden Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus ornaments that she received a few years ago from Grandma and Grandpa. Nora was just thrilled with them all and had fun unwrapping the tissue paper off of each one, like a brand new gift.

I look forward to their collections growing over the years and continuing this wonderful tradition until they are able to take their boxes to their own homes when they are adults to decorate their own trees.

BUT I am also looking forward to going shopping the day after Christmas to find a cheap tree to purchase so next year I can have a tree all of my own!!!!!