O Christmas Tree

This is our rent to own Christmas tree. I was complaining to my friend Tracy about not really wanting to put up a Christmas tree and she mentioned that she had a 7' prelit tree they weren't going to use. I offered to buy it and she said we could take it home on trial to see if we liked it and then decide. In the past we have always used a hand-me-down 4 foot tree, but were planning to try and find something bigger (and pre-lit) after Christmas. I am glad we have it because Megan is enthralled with it.

Megan and Adam (but who are we kidding, Adam has no clue) have their own Christmas tree this year. Last year, I re-decorated the tree daily and let me tell you, I don't really like decorating the tree the first time. When I found the little tree for 2 bucks after Christmas, I decided to let her have a tree to do as she pleased with and it has worked out great. We made a paper chain and several ornaments for it and I also gave her some unbreakable ornaments from the stash. When we had 4 of her little friends over the other day, the tree got completely stripped and shown below is the "after" picture. It was apparently lacking an array of foam blocks (but no one touched my big tree).

The Year without Christmas Cards.

I give up. I made 2 valiant efforts to get pictures of the kids in matching gingham outfits. Well, matching considering they are different sexes. I got this dress for Megan after Easter last year for a ridiculous price and a few months later found a matching shirt for Adam for $2. I then spent the next 6 months (yes, I found the shirt before Adam was born) trying to find black pants for him. I was finally successful on Black Friday. I also found the red vest.

Back to the point, I got everything set up, Chad helped me bathe and dress the kids and from that point, nothing else went smoothly.

Megan started out sweet.


Adam wanted none of it however.


Then, when Adam finally got into it, Megan got squirly. In addition, since Adam is too little to sit by himself and Megan is too little to really hold him, I ended up having them lean up against a pillow on the couch. Well, static electricity took its toll on Megan's hair.





This is the best I got and Megan looks pretty weird still.



Today, I tried again. The sun was out and I put out a blanket and dressed them in their very cute winter coats. By the time I got the idea and got everything ready, Adam was overdue for a nap and crying bloody murder.

Thus, I have admitted defeat and have decided not to try and do cards this year. So here it is, Merry Christmas!!

The true meaning of Christmas...

The Christmas season has taken on a whole new level of interest now that I have a 2 year-old trying to make sense of it all. Up until now we really hadn't given much thought to the whole "Santa" concept and so we've developed our stance on big S.C. and tried to talk about the real meaning of Christmas, you know, the birth of Jesus, not scads of presents, as much as possible.

Even though we have tried not to empasize Santa, the dude is unavoidable. Megan has become obsessed with Santa. She is torn between thinking he is fun and thinking he is scary. He seems fun during the day, but apparently scary at bedtime. She lays there saying, "I don't want Santa to come." Tonight, after repeatedly saying he wasn't coming and he was just for fun, I finally said, "Why don't you pray about it?" As I left her room, I overheard her praying, "Dear God, please help me not to worry about Santa." Later, she needed a potty break and she told me, "I prayed to God and Jesus to save me from Santa."

She also interrupted the Christmas story several times to make the story a little better, when I talked about them not finding a room and sleeping on straw on the ground, she interrupted with, "and then a little girl came and said I have a bed for you." She also said, "maybe when Adam grows up he can save me"...Somehow I think we are missing something, but I guess it's a start...