The Christmas Tree That Never Was....

I can say without a doubt that my mothers instinct is pretty much dead on accurate. I hope that you are all enjoying the pictures of the Christmas tree, because it looked like that for one hour. And that was the one hour Colin was asleep. ;-) I finished putting up the decorations during Colin's nap yesterday and let me tell you, it was a huge disaster when he got up. I purchased tons of plastic ornaments from Garden Ridge in preparation for Colin pulling the tree down, and at least that was a good idea since they are all over the house now. I wish I had captured the look on his face when he saw that tree. It hit me immediately that I was expecting way too much out of a 16 month old baby. The tree was a giant shining glittering shimmering beacon of heaven to his little self. I thought he was going to pass out from the joy of a giant glowing tree of toys hanging from it. Except that they were not toys. And he was not supposed to touch it. Yeah. Brilliant idea, Mama. He went after every ornament, bow, light, tree skirt, cord...everything. I spent a long time alternating between yelling, silently removing him (while he screamed), getting on eye level and telling him no, grabbing his hands and saying no, crying and saying no, and finally banging my head against the wall while saying no. It was a lovely afternoon. I realized that I was being unfair to Colin and really setting him up to fail by placing the worlds largest teaser in front of him. I surely could not spend the next month in a war with Colin over the tree and it would stress me out beyond measure to watch that tree like a hawk. I want this to be a joyous time for him, not a time for me to yell at him constantly. He does not understand the tree yet and really does not understand why he can play with his normal ball pit, but not the balls hanging on the tree. Therefore, the tree no longer has ornaments on it, except for the very very top. I took everything off today that was in arms reach, and with a tall toddler on tip toes, that was pretty high up. It looks utterly ridiculous, which in itself will be a funny holiday memory. The tree is pre-lit and Colin seems to have no interest in the bare tree with no goodies on it, so it stays like it is. At least there is a tree up. A tree with one quarter decorated. Peace has been restored in the house and I am happy. I think if we had a larger house where the tree was not literally in the middle of where Colin has to walk, I might have been able to pull it off. Maybe. For those of you who gave birth to toddlers who actually could walk past a shimmering tree of joy and not touch it, just shut up. ;-)

Here is the mantle...it looks much prettier in real life. Colin would reach the stockings, so none of those this year. I plan to string up all the Christmas cards we receive along the bottom of the mantle as well. I saw the idea in one of my magazines and it should look cute and be a fun way to display them. I love getting Christmas cards and never have a good way to showcase them, so I think this will be fun.


This used to be a nice view of the decorated tree. If you click on the picture, you can get a nice view of my plastic ornaments. Now imagine it with the star on top and two ornaments. ;-) Forgive the messy kitchen and gigantic pile of toys. We have one of those tall skinny trees that I bought back when we were cool and lived in downtown Dallas. It worked well for our modern apartment in the city and still works for our small living area, at least size-wise. I am ready to go back to the classic shape tree, not to mention the fact that I collect special ornaments and I am running out of room on this one. I think I may buy the new tree next year. I will keep this one around...it should look nice in the entry of the huge house that I should own by 2040. hehe!