Glitter, Glitter Everywhere

Can you guess what we did over the weekend? I’ll give you a hint:

Have you figured it out, yet? Yep, our house is an explosion of tinsel and lights. It’s a bit early for us, I usually pull all of the decorations out the day after Thanksgiving, but since we’ll be travelling that day, and since I kept promising my eager children that we would start decking the halls soon, I was doomed. But, now I get to enjoy everything even longer!

I think my absolute favorite thing when decorating for Christmas is giving the kids free reign to hanging our ornaments we’ve collected over the years. I put myself in charge of the boring ornaments like the glass balls, and berry sprigs, but my kids get the rest. For me, as a child, there was such magic in unpacking and hanging all of the ornaments. It was just as exciting as opening presents on Christmas morning. Now, I love getting to see the wonderment in my kids’ eyes. It sparks such great memories. Plus, seeing where my kids choose to hang their ornaments is just icing on the cake. It’s not perfect, but it’s so much more charming and beautiful than I could have ever dictated. And every time I walk by the tree, I can’t help but smile.

The kids get their own tree to decorate as well. It’s housed in Audrie’s room and it’s full of bright colors, birds and memories from our Disney vacation the Thanksgiving before Finn was born. It’s always the first thing out of its box when we start to decorate.

And then there’s the advent calendar. Audrie and I made this last year, and it’s now one of our favorite things. I’m not sure where to hang it yet, but it will find its place, get filled with candy, and utilized to its fullest, my kids will make sure of that.

By the end of all the decorating, with boxes and glitter and pine needles everywhere, I kind of turned into the Grinch. But, once I got everything cleaned up and out of the house, and saw how excited my kids were when everything was done and lit and sparkly, my heart grew three sizes and quit being green and grumpy.

Now, back to work.

xo

nessa dee