Oh, Christmas Tree!

Oh, Christmas Tree,

Oh, Christmas Tree,

We finally decorated our Christmas Tree!

While we had assembled the tree a few days after our return home from Thanksgiving in Idaho, it stood there bare-branched for over a week before I finished the ornaments that I wanted to make for this year's tree. It took a lot longer than I anticipated (as most of my projects do!) but it's so nice to have some new ornaments to celebrate Christmas with a new member of the family. I wasn't sure how Isaiah would react to the tree, so I wanted to make sure the ornaments were safe, just in case.

Our old ornaments were all hard & breakable, so I sewed soft burlap hearts & flannel stars, tied some red bows and cooked some gingerbread cookies. (Every now and then I find a little nibble on the corners of the cookies...haha...but I think I made enough to survive the next week and a half.)

We got those ornaments up so fast with Trever & Nathan now old enough to really help out. And in no time, they were kicked back, relaxing beneath the branches, while TJ topped off the tree with the star. Isaiah watched curiously, but hasn't had much interest in it, since that night. Every now and then he'll grab an ornament, so our decorations have gradually risen a little higher off the ground, but it hasn't been a big issue. I just wanted to be prepared, since Trever & Nathan were Christmas tree terrors as little toddlers...hahaha...our poor trees used to take a real beating!

It looks like this one will make it through, just fine, though.

As for next year, however, we may not be so lucky with a full-fledged toddler on our hands! hahaha....I'm actually looking forward to toddler-hood with Isaiah, though. Now that we have some experience behind us, and know that it's only another stage (and not the end of the world..haha), TJ and I are eager for the funny, inquisitive, experimental, accidental, adorable and ever-exciting stage. While many of our most stressful times were with the older boys as toddlers, they were also filled with even more of our most treasured memories!

Another one of our favorite memories is making "graham cracker houses" together. We couldn't let that tradition slip by this year, and finished decorating their houses with left-over Halloween candy, while Isaiah crawled around by our feet, scavenging for dropped crackers and candies. I can't wait till he's old enough to make his own little house, too! 

(But, don't worry, we're not wishing away his baby days...I cherish my babies more than I can even describe!) It's all such a wonderful adventure!

 

Ta da! (Trever made the Grinch's house! haha)

Kids make Christmas-time so much fun!