I haven’t decorated for Christmas since 2005. That was the first year Mike and I lived together. I threw him a surprise 30th birthday party and invited a bunch of people – I wanted our apartment to look PERFECT. I dragged Mike to three Christmas tree lots, then had him go with me to several different stores to pick out ornaments. Finally I just left him at home and bought up tons of vintage ornaments and decorations at flea markets (and got a bunch from my mom, too). I had decorations everywhere and our place looked so festive.
Every year since then I’ve had a good reason to not decorate. We were getting married and would be gone over Christmas…Maddie was in the NICU…I was pregnant and we were celebrating elsewhere….there was always an excuse. But this year, this year there are no excuses. I didn’t need any – I have been excited to decorate this house for the holidays since the day we decided to make an offer. I have so many ideas that I can’t wait to do.
Annie…well, she doesn’t “get” the whole holiday thing, but I figure now is the time to start her happy holiday memories, right? On Saturday we turned on Christmas music and put up our tree. Mike and I spent some time putting the more delicate ornaments on the tree above the reach of anyone below three feet tall. “Look Annie, Mama is hanging an angel!” She seemed interested, so we handed her a plastic reindeer and told her to put it on the tree.
She was like, “yeah, you just gave me this awesome toy and you expect me to put it down? No thanks.”
Eventually we talked her into putting ornaments on the tree. I suspect the use of cookies had a lot to do with it.
Before long our tree was lit and I felt like a kid at my parents’ house. I loved sitting out by the tree when I came home from school. There was something magical about it, and I didn’t even mind doing my homework as long as I was within the tree’s proximity. I want Annie to feel the same way.
I think…so far, so good.
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May your Christmas be as beautiful as your Christmas tree is & have MANY, MANY precious memories that last forever!!! xo
Oh my gosh. That first picture is just priceless! LOL! Wishing you all a veryMerry Christmas.
Those are great pictures! I love all the traditions we create leading up to the holiday as well. We do a gingerbread house (Somebody is always eating the candy), shrinky dinks, go to our local park and enjoy the Christmas lights, and so many more things. I can’t wait to see what you guys start with Miss Annie!
Shan´s last [type] ..Making Spirits Bright
Looks great. And Annie makes the most classic faces
Kelly´s last [type] ..how ‘Toyland’ and ‘Away in a Manger’ co-exist
I love Annie’s expressions as she is decorating
We have that same tree skirt! And this past weekend we decorated our tree as well. My purple Maddie snowflake adorns our tree again this year.
Lisa´s last [type] ..Sleep Regression
OH EM GEE!!! I loooove the face Annie is making in that first picture. Ahaha.
Your tree looks awesome!
By the way, do you guys have the Elf on the Shelf yet? Because its awesome and you should get one!
I’m not too sure what was the best…the photo of Annie sitting and her adorably chubby legs or the gorgeous floor her precious little toes are resting on.
Rebecca´s last [type] ..Love That Max Toy Guide
I love her expression in the first photo! Typical Annie!
CJ´s last [type] ..Birthday Photos!
You have out-done yourself, between the scowl and then the splayed-toe-bendy-move in the denim squirt I am undone.
Too cute!
Amanda´s last [type] ..Betwixt blur and focus
Your tree looks great and every year Annie will have more and more fun decorating!
Our kids love decorating for Christmas–every year we add a bit more–the front of our house is looking great–hubby added some more stuff to it. Daily we are slowly opening the decorations in the house–my youngest (now five) is big on helping. I think her favorite is the dancing Frosty the Snowman–gee, it’s not even December and I’ve heard him dancing and singing at least 100 times!
I remember our first Christmas–we had three decorations on our tree — one for our first Christmas and one given by my mom and I can’t remember where the third one came from. This is our 25th Christmas being married–and our tree is full (we add ornaments every year), last year we actually did simple and didn’t put every ornament on the tree. We will get our tree on the 10th–gives us a tree that will live until my oldest’s birthday on New Year’s day–he is going to be 15 this year–where does the time go.
I think Annie is going to have lots of very happy holiday memories! Great pictures.
Lanie´s last [type] ..The Club
Beautiful – your daughter & the tree xx
Great looking tree! It looks like Annie didn’t make the classic toddler tree decorating mistake and put all of her ornaments within one square foot of space.
Audra´s last [type] ..Scenes From 37
Decorating the tree is one of my favorite childhood holiday memories, too. My dad used to take me to cut down our own tree and I loved it. Looks like Annie is ready to make magical memories with your tree. Good job getting it up early! (Some people might consider this the normal time, but for me the procrastinator, it’s super early!)
OMG! I sat under our Christmas tree last night with two of my boys doing homework!!! it was magical!
That first photo is seriously priceless and just begging for a caption contest.
Annie is sooo cute, remembers me of my daughter when she was a child.
Laura´s last [type] ..Kmart Printable Coupons
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