It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

As soon as it hits Thanksgiving the kids start asking to decorate the mantle and put up the tree. Stella asked all week when we could decorate and I had her wait until Friday just so I could deal with all the boxes at once instead of spread out over the week.

Friday, I went downstairs and brought them all up. The kids flipped out, it was like they each inhaled pounds of sugar. The snow globes kept singing (three different songs at once) and they put up their stockings. One thing my kids lack is the concept that decorations are not toys. They continually take the stuff off the mantle, turn on all the snow globes at once and try to wear their stockings. One year I had fake presents on the mantle as part of my display, well Maizie and Teddy (mostly Maizie) took them and opened them; haven’t done that again.

Well yesterday we made our annual trek to cut down our Christmas tree. Ted and I have been going to Petersen’s Tree Farm for longer than I can remember. Now the kids (especially Teddy) couldn’t wait to get out there. We go, get a saw and enter the vastness of trees to cut down the perfect one. There are so many to choose from, it’s hard to decide. One year we picked a tree that was too small and we had to prop it up on a box. Another year we got a tree that was so big it hardly fit in the house and scraped the ceiling. The past couple of years, we’ve got it just right.

While searching, Stella (who didn’t put her boots on after several requests) would run and fall in the snow, Maizie was eating the snow off of the trees and Teddy was carrying (swinging) the saw, chomping at the bit to get to work. We saw several possibilities, but then a good one I saw got lost (all right, I couldn’t find it again). Resume the search.

Jackpot! We found one and it took forever to get it cut down. Ted was laying on the ground sawing away for what seemed like forever, his assistant trying to help and two supervisors barking orders (I just waited patiently). The good thing now a days is I don’t have to help carry it. Teddy loves to help and that is perfectly fine with me. The girls decided they were going to help “carry it” too; if your idea of helping is chasing the tree and trying to jump on the top as it’s moving.

The tree made it home safely and looked perfect in the corner, not too fat, not too tall. Now the waiting game; the kids weren’t going to decorate until after supper, pure torture!

Once I opened the ornament box, it was stimulation overload. Do you know that every ornament that Stella touches “is her favorite”? I didn’t realize you could have more than one favorite, I was wrong. Teddy was squawking about it being his turn to put on the angel (he’s been talking about it for a week). Maizie is very particular where she places her ornaments; Stella likes the all on one branch.

It wouldn’t be a Kraus House Christmas unless the tree fell over. Luckily I was standing in front of it and caught it (and saved the ornaments). So Ted McGuyvered the tree into place with dental floss.

When I was going to bed, I went to turn off the lights on the tree and the sucker was leaning on the wall and window; it started to fall the other way. Oh well, I guess that’s how we (and the ornaments) roll.