The Tree

 We put our tree up in December, despite the pleas from my daughters to do it earlier.  We have a fake tree, and I'm not sorry.  I LOVE the smell of the real ones, but the needles.  OH.  The needles.  And the watering.  Really?  I don't need another thing to worry about around here.  I'm sure I have a fire hazard in my house I know nothing about.  And I like it that way.





This is the first year that the girls have really been able to help.  In other years, they sat in their bouncy seat and watched.  Or they were taking a nap.  Or they were fighting about ornaments.  This year was perfect.  They helped.  They sang Christmas songs.  They were excited.  They are officially the perfect age for Christmas.  Magical.

 I let them decorate the tree with any ornaments we have.  Some include ornaments my mom gave me when I left for college.  Ornaments made in the 70's that were crocheted.  Or that had suckers in them.  There are sequined Santa boots and Alpine skis.  There are gold sprayed pine cones and dried oranges from my Martha Stewart wanna-be Christmas.  Cross-stitched reindeer and resin sailboats share a branch.  And then there are my wire ornaments.  Cute, rustic ornaments made from wire that has been twisted into beautiful ornaments.  After the Christmas tree was decorated, the girls continued to play with them.

The above was a reindeer.  Now I call it my reindaschund.  We learned about taking care of other people's things that day.

In the end, we were all happy with the tree we had each contributed to.  Some ornaments the girls have made were hung delicately by me.  The lights and tinsel were hung by my husband.  And the star on top was my favorite.  Made by my husband the first year we had a Christmas tree, almost 20 years ago. A foil wrapped star made of cardboard.  It has since been replaced by an toilet-paper roll angel my daughter made in preschool.  But I will always treasure the star.

In the busyness of this stage in our lives.  One with the bustle of two energetic daughters, I am reminded of our beginning.  Our first tree.  Our hopes of our future marriage and family.  It is nothing like what we dreamed.  But it is what God has ordained for us.  And it is perfect.

(And yes.  That is my vacuum cleaner.  Sorry.)

To see other trees, take a look at MckMama's website.