I just love Christmas time! The kids always anxiously await the time when they get to decorate the tree!
It's especially fun because this tree is where we put all the kids homemade ornaments they have done throughout the years. So they always feel pretty proud putting them up.
The tree upstairs you can see out the window is "mom's tree" lol and purely for decoration. The one they decorate downstairs is where we celebrate and open presents.
It was funny though because Jay helped me do the tree upstairs and he was getting so into it that I just let him go ahead and do his thing. Of course only the bottom 2 feet were decorated. He was so impressed and proud of himself! And when the kids came home from school I told them how proud he was and to make sure they compliment him on his work. So...I let it stay that way for a few days and then I went ahead and moved the ornaments so they were more evenly distributed and boy was he mad! He was so upset and sad and said that Hailey told him it looked absolutely perfect! So why oh why would I change it!? lol
It made me feel a little bad but then he got to bring out his creativity again with this one
My four little elves
One of our traditions we started a few years ago was putting straw in a little manger we have on our table for every time anyone in the family does service. So any time the kids do a good deed or help someone at school or do a secret chore for their sibling, etc. they put one piece of straw in. And then the plan is to have the manger filled for Jesus on Christmas. It's been fun and good to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. We aren't perfect about it- just something to do throughout the month. The kids reminded me that it wasn't very full last year! lol So trying to find some ways to serve, we went to an elderly assisted living home last week. That can be a little interesting with little ones. lol. They were all so sweet with all the elderly and even wore their cute Santa hats. Hailey was just being hilarious behind the scenes though of course! We asked 2 ladies if they wanted cookies and they said no thank you. So we went down the hall and came back around and they were still visiting in the hallway so Hailey whispers to Kevin, "Do you think they forgot about us and we can talk to them again?" sooo funny. And then when we were driving home she kept saying she wanted to be a cranky old lady when she gets old. She thinks that would be awesome! Oh my gosh she is such a hoot!