Decorating The Christmas Tree

I can't believe this took us until December 1st to accomplish. Most years we've got the tree up by the day after Thanksgiving, and I'll be honest with you, I'm never exactly an enthusiastic participant in the exercise.

I really dislike the way Christmas and its corresponding "season" has turned into an endless sales blitz that lasts nearly 2 months. I swear, I saw Christmas decorations before October was over this year. I can see it for what it is, an attempt by retailers to push people into that "spend with reckless abandon" mode as early as possible in hopes that this year's sales figures will exceed last years.

I feel I'm often misunderstood in my disdain for the pre-Thanksgiving onslaught of Christmas music, etc. I guess it's possible, considering my typical method of expressing said disdain is an out-an-out grumpy disposition and snappy tone. It aggravates me to no end, and those who actually enjoy it can't be bothered to ask my point of view . . they'd rather just turn up their noses and label me "The Grinch". So be it, I have my reasons.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Christmas. Not by a long shot. It's probably my second favorite holiday behind only Thanksgiving. But the reasons why I like it do not coincide with the reasons why it's jammed down our throats for 1/6 of the year.

Anyway, now that I got that little explanation out of the way, we can get back to the point of the post. We spent yesterday afternoon putting all of the ornaments on the tree. Mandi put the lights on in the morning before I left for work, and then when Lily got up from her nap we broke (literally and figuratively) out the ornaments and got to decorating.

To put it mildly, this was an exercise in patience. Lily LOVES fancy, shiny things, and her reaction to the sight of every individual ornament was priceless.

"Oooooh, Daddy, look! This one matches the other one!"


Avery, on the other hand, is primarily interested in being in charge. It doesn't matter how inconsequential the activity, if she's not exercising some semblance of power over the process she is just not into it.

Lily: "Ooh, Avery, look at this one, is it mine?"

Avery: "No, that one that says Lily and has your birth date on it is actually mine!"

Lily: "But I'm going to put it on the tree, so it's mine!"

Avery: "No, Lily, it's not. Now go stand over there while I put this ornament right where you were trying to put yours."

Mason had an entirely different set of emotions regarding the exercise. These two photos pretty much give you an idea of the two ends of his spectrum.

Which gives way to . .


Maybe it was just the silly hat he didn't like. Hard to say.

The festivities continued for a scant half hour until the entirety of our 6-foot Douglas Fir was adorned with Christmas cheer. And you know what? I actually enjoyed it. I enjoyed the time spent with my family, thinking about celebrating with them later this month, and I enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells (it smells like a candle factory threw up in our house) of Christmas. I shall leave you with a tidbit from our favorite Christmastime background entertainment, Christmas Vacation.