Little Christmas Tree Helpers

Here’s the thing about little kids and Christmas tree decorating, they really suck at it.

Okay, in their defense they can only reach so high and I get it that they are too young to have a sense of proper ornament placement proportion. But redecorating a Christmas tree after an hour of watching your kids do it all wrong is not my favorite thing in the world, just being completely honest. However, the look of wonder and awe, with a little bit of pride that beams across their faces while they decorate makes up for the little bit of extra work on my part. I try my best to do all the rearranging as they are preoccupied with the hot chocolate dad makes them to celebrate their hard work, but inevitably someone comes waltzing back to admire their handiwork, and catches me in the act. It never fails. I feel bad when I see the look of disappointment on their little faces, as if I didn’t think their work was good enough.

“You did beautiful work sweetheart”, I tell them. “Mommy just needs to make room for more.” “More!” they say, with excitement. “Oh boy”, I sigh.

Although I may never have the elegant and tastefully decorated Christmas tree I so long for every year, that wish quickly disappears once I see all the fun Christmas memories hanging from our tiny Christmas branches, that bend and bow under the weight of heavy clay hand prints, clusters of shiny balls all to one side of the tree, and hoards of character ornaments that really have nothing to do with Christmas. It’s a mess of a tree, but it’s our mess of a tree, and we love it.