O Tannenbaum....

I put up the tree with the kids today. It went....well, I suppose. The other day in the car Keith was saying how I always have to have the perfect tree. Why is it that those we love don't always notice how we change over the years. I did like to have the perfect tree and I still love looking at a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. However, I have happily traded my perfect tree for the tree that my kids help to decorate. Now with that said, I think the way to do this is to get the tree up, the lights, beads, ribbons and garland on, and then let the kids have at it with the decorations. The tricky part is to not let them see it before that point or they will have lost interest by the time it is their turn. So the tree is now up, - it is mostly red and silver, reminiscent of previous perfect tree years but there is a conglomeration of felt, craft foam, paper and styrofoam which constitutes the kids offerings over the last couple years.
Now if only I can teach those darling daycare babies to look and not touch. As we were decorating the two little ones woke up. They are both around 20 months. Now I am torn, I really don't relish the thought of picking up the pieces of the tree two or three times a day for the next month. On the other hand these tactile little people go into everything so wholeheartedly that sometimes it seems a shame to stop them from exploring our world. So, two broken decorations later, we have put away the breakables for this year :)
I'm sure I will revisit this "touching" decision later. I'll let you know....
Lee