Our Tree

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went to a nearby tree lot to pick out our tree. We always get a real tree, and this year Tim and I had some extra help picking which one should come home with us. After browsing up and down the rows and rows of trees, we, the grown-ups, narrowed it down to 2 and Tyler made the final decision. He did well because I honestly think it's the prettiest one we've ever had. It's very full and more symmetrical than our trees in the past. It is also the tallest we've had since we moved to NC--we had to trim the top so it wouldn't scrape the ceiling!

Boy on a mission

Keeping Nathan warm and cozy

"Can you guys hurry up and decide already?"

"We found the perfect one!"

Tyler liked watching the workers trim the trunks and net the trees.

This was the first year that we actually let Tyler be a part of the tree decorating process. We used to wait until he was asleep for the night because we didn't want him breaking ornaments and such, but we figured he would be able to handle the responsibility this year. (We still hung the lights during his nap, though, since those get tangled so easily). I'm glad we let him in on the fun because that's just what it was. He did an excellent job of carefully unwrapping the ornaments (with some close supervision from PJ) and he really liked hanging them on the tree. There was just one teency little problem. He wanted to hang all of the ornaments on the same branch.

Unwrapping the ornaments

Reviewing his work

I tried to explain that he could hang them on different branches, and in fact, that would be preferential. But, even after I'd remove the extra ornaments from the branch, minutes later 2 more would appear in their place. I just had to giggle to myself and of course I praised him for a job well done. One of his favorite lines is, "Mommy, I such a good helper?" How could I answer with anything but "yes"?

Like most activities Tyler and I do together, it would have gone much faster if I'd done it by myself...but where's the fun in that? I enjoyed telling him about the ornaments he unwrapped: what it was, who gave it to us, how long ago we received it. (Of course he was most interested in his ornaments. He is 2, after all). Each year, my favorite part of decorating the tree is remembering a special person or time in our lives that is represented by each ornament, and I got to share that with Tyler this year. I look forward to future Christmases when I can do the same with his little brother.

So even though it took a long while to get all the ornaments on the tree, the result is pretty great. Tim and I think it's the nicest tree we've had so far, and even if it wasn't, it would still be special to me because I got the chance to make a memory with one of my favorite people in the world.