Katie Mei's first Christmas tree

I'm slowly getting the blog caught up with real life. I'm only about a week behind now. We decorated our tree last week, and unfortunately, Jay had already left so he wasn't able to enjoy it. He really doesn't like decorating the tree, anyway, but I think he likes watching the kids and I make our mess.

This was Katie Mei's first tree, and she already had a pretty good idea what to do. She has been to Lowe's so many times that she was quite familiar with the term "Christmas Tree" so she knew exactly what we were doing when Jay put it up the day after Thanksgiving. The folks that lived here before us left a 9-foot artificial tree in the attic. Though I'm not a fan of fake trees, I was delighted to have the pre-lit monster, and gladly look forward to not having to clean up needles like we did last year, and the year before, and the year before. And, for that matter, every year of my life thus far. I can still remember Mom and Dad making us pick needles out of the berber carpet when the tree came down when we were kids. The majority of the needles had to be up before they'd run the vacuum. How I hated feeling those needles press into my palms and even my knees through my pants. And just to carry on the tradition, I've made my own kids pick needles out of the carpet. Well, this year there will be no needle picking. Not only do we not have pine needles, we don't have carpet! Yay!

Back to my original train of thought....

Katie Mei really enjoyed getting the ornaments out, and was facinated by the angel tree topper. We have two angels, and the kids ended up choosing the red angel, not the purple one.


The kids each have their own boxes of ornaments that have been gifts or of their own making. When they eventually leave the nest, the plan is for them to take their boxes with them and start their own Christmas tree decorating traditions. So I started Katie Mei's collection this year with a little nativity ornament. She got to put it on the tree first before any other ornaments were hung.

It was kind of nostalgic for me to watch them decorate the tree this year. It was only five years ago that I had my first little girl with excited lit-up eyes, watch me as I showed her how to hang a hook on an ornament and then put it on a branch so it wouldn't slip off. Now, I look up to see that same little girl being the leader as she helps Jacob and Katie Mei get their ornaments on the tree. Merrilee is just growing up so fast. I have such mixed feelings~I'm so proud of her, yet so unwilling to let her grow up. I don't have much control of the latter, so I just have to stick with the former and rejoice in the fact that she such an awesome young lady already. A mom really couldn't be more pleased than I am with her!

Once the tree was pretty much done, Merrilee and Jacob left the scene to watch a Christmas TV show. I remember when we were kids and the week before Christmas there were a few Christmas "Specials" on TV. They really were special, too, because they weren't on every stinkin' night for two months before Christmas. My kids have now watched "The Year Without A Santa Clause" about 62 times and have the whole thing memorized. They've probably seen it more times in their short 5 years in country than I've seen it in all my 44+ years on the planet. The concept of a TV "Special" just isn't there anymore. So sad. It really was special to be able to look forward to watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, and know that if you missed it, you had to wait another entire year before you could see it again. Now ABC Family has got "The 25 Days of Christmas", and prior to that "The 21 Days Before The 25 Days of Christmas". Good Grief, Charlie Brown!

Katie Mei wasn't quite as thrilled with the Miser Brothers, but she really was taken in by the tree. She grabbed a pillow and settled herself in front of the tree to absorb it all. It was such a beautiful moment. I wish my photos had come out better. But at least the memory of it was captured.

So Katie Mei's very last first time decorating a Christmas tree was so sweet. We've had the tree up for a week now, and the boxes are back in the garage until we pack it all up. Hopefully Daddy's shoulder will be doing better! All those boxes gotta go into the upstairs attic behind Merrilee's room once we're done with them. We're still moving in....

Wishing you a Merry 9 Days Before The 7 Days Before Christmas, Everyone!