Decking the Halls

Up until this year, we've always had a real tree. This year my sister, Karen, gave us an artificial tree, and our kids were THRILLED. (Thanks, Karen!) Seriously, they were going on and on about how we had never had a fake tree before. And how it was so fun because it was just like putting a puzzle together. And they were so proud of it once it was completely assembled.

Looking at the second picture, there are some circumstances that confine our ornaments and candy canes to the middle third of the tree. First, Evan loves candy canes, so they need to be high enough where he can't reach them. We did catch him once already hiding behind the tree munching on a candy cane! Second, even though I only let the kids hang the non-glass or hand-made ornaments, they are always concerned that Evan will get a hold of them, so again, they place them out of Evan's reach. Third, the kids can't reach the top third of the tree. (I might have to do a little spreading out after they go to bed!) But it truly is such a joy to watch the kids hang all those ornaments, reminiscing and telling stories as they go, and savoring the unique design of our tree at this time of our lives.