Tree Trimming

Decorating our home this year has been so much fun. Since we're staying here for Christmas, we get to enjoy our own tree and decorations on Christmas morning. Also, Jackson is at the age when he is really excited about getting all of the decorations out. We got our tree the weekend before Jason's last two finals...the 11th, I believe. We would have liked to have gotten it sooner, but we just couldn't get away together as a family until then. Jackson kept asking us when we were going to go get it. He was so excited. Then, we we got it home, he wanted to decorate it right away. I explained that we needed to wait and let the branches lay down a little. He was so excited though, that we ended up putting on lights and ornaments the very next afternoon. Look at those branches!

We don't allow him to plug things into electrical outlets, but this year, we let him plug in the lights for the tree. He was puzzled as to how we would be able to light each of the five strands when there was only one outlet. Then, I showed him how they can connect to each other and he thought that was very cool!

After the lights were on, he put on his race car driving costume and was ready to put on the ornaments!

I love how he put two ornaments so close together. And these ornaments are SO heavy. One of our shepherd boys got his leg amputated this year when he fell to the floor.

Allison loved the ornaments!

Allison loved playing with the crystal ornaments. They were fun to beat on the floor until we had to stop her fun and save the ornaments.

A boost from Daddy:

Allison wants to do whatever Jackson is doing. She insisted upon having her turn at putting an ornament on the tree. Of course, we wanted her to participate too!

She's becoming a Daddy's girl!

Jackson loved putting the balls on the top of the tree. At first, all of the balls were up there. He wanted to keep them away from Alli. Whenever she would see them, she would yell, "Ball! Ball!" At one point, she had two and was beating two together. They survived!

It took us another week before we finished decorating and put our star on the top. We wanted to do it with Jason...it's tradition that he always puts the star on top...but he wasn't home all week long. Jackson was so excited to help!

Our tree topper is very awkward. He couldn't figure out how to get it to stand up straight and he wasn't willing to give it too much effort because he was afraid he was going to fall.

Daddy came to the rescue and placed it properly. One of the jewels fell out when the kids were handling it. I'm afraid I vacuumed it up. I may dig through the bag to find it...but I may not. There is a lot of gross stuff in that vacuum bag.

I love my ornaments. My mom and I bought them years ago from a little shop in Houston when they were on clearance. Of all of the ones we bought, this glass ball is my favorite...and I have many of them:

I love the wise men (I didn't take a photo of the third wise man) and the shepherd boy:

Before Jason and I got married, I good friend hosted a bridal shower for me and asked everyone to bring a Christmas ornament...since newlyweds usually don't have Christmas decor. This is one that I love because Jesus knew that was His destination and He still chose to be born as a man:

I LOVE these snowflakes. My dad's mom made them by hand and they are beautiful on the tree. This is my first year to have them on my tree and I'm in love!

I love our tree this year! It's a little unbalanced, but I was trying to protect my investment from the tiny hands of my daughter. She's actually staying away from the ornaments. The novelty has worn off already!

We are so blessed!