The Christmas Tree

Every year I look forward to putting up Christmas decorations, usually the weekend after Thanksgiving. We don't do a ton of decorating, just a fake tree, the Willow Tree Nativity scene, and some simple lights outside. I feel like it is always a surprise to open the boxes of ornaments because I forget what they look like or mean. My parents bought several ornaments for me over the years that I still put up and I think it is fun to have the 1986 Precious Moment and the stained glass Disney characters to remember my early Christmases. We have already started the ornament tradition with Aria, picking an ornament series to get one from each year for her.

While my normal excitement was heightened this year to see how Aria would react to all the new things, I also had a slight sense of dread for how many, "Aria, no touch" comments I would make in a day. Well, the tree went up on Friday and Aria has done amazing! I overheard some friends talking about putting a few ornaments near the bottom that their young children could touch and wow did that ever work! When Aria got up from her nap and first saw the tree she was instantly excited and reaching for it. I put her down near the tree and she went for the soft ornaments at the bottom. Once she grabbed them, pulled them off and looked at the tree awhile, she moved on to other more important things like pulling all of her books out of the crate. Having a few ornaments that Aria can touch helped me relax from keeping her away from the tree and allowed her to enjoy it in a safe way.



We left out one other "decoration" that I didn't intend, but provided instant entertainment. I use an old popcorn tin to store some ornaments in and before it got put away Aria noticed it makes a great drum. It is also fun to roll across the floor and chase! What joy the holiday season brings!! :)