Deck the Halls

In keeping with our family tradition (not decorating until the first weekend of December), we decorated for Christmas today.  Taking into consideration that we are about to close on a house, pack up and move, and yet have two little ones who need to learn about Christmas and celebrate, we decorated on a smaller scale this year. 

I have thought of and searched for different ways to teach Aric and Kellyn about the true meaning of Christmas.  I thought a Jesse Tree was a neat idea and attempted to borrow the idea from a friend, however, I soon realized this was a bit advanced for my kids.  (I still haven't eliminated the idea of a Jesse Tree for future Christmas celebrations when the kids are older.)  While getting my haircut earlier this week I saw the neatest Nativity set at my hairdresser's house.  I went to Target and found one in stock.  I was excited, only to discover later when talking with my parents that the same Nativity set was wrapped up in the other room for Kellyn.  Oops, apparently the unspoken rule of not buying anything for yourself right before Christmas extends to your own children.  I returned it to Target and we opened Kellyn's Christmas gift early. 

The kids have loved it and we've already had several talks about Baby Jesus.  We I also had a moment of panic when Baby Jesus was missing for awhile, don't worry, he's back safe and sound with Mary and Joseph.

We had considered getting rid of our old three foot tree this year.  Thankfully, we didn't.  It's a perfect size and able to be displayed out of the way.  Aric helped me decorate the tree with the kid's ornaments while Kellyn was napping.  This is the year we have instituted the One Finger Rule.  The kids may touch the tree and any ornament on the tree, however, they may only use one finger to do so.  Aric seems to have grasped the concept, Kellyn has not.  I keep finding her wandering the house holding an ornament.  It's been less than a day, though, and I have hope she'll figure out the rule.

Since Aric was born, I have made it a point to get an ornament every Christmas to represent the past year.  I was excited to find this fantastic representation of his year:

This year has been all about Cars and Tractor Tippin'.  He has reenacted scenes from this movie ad nauseum and we've loved every minute of it.

When it came to picking out an ornament for Kellyn, I had more difficulty.  Since she is so young, I had no idea what really represented her year.  On first sight, Aric picked this out:

While Kellyn has never seen Cinderella, she is definitely "all girl".  She loves baby dolls and leans towards girl-orientated play.  When I think about it, it's not surprising Aric picked out this ornament for Kellyn.  Not long ago I had taken Aric grocery shopping by himself.  While roaming the baby food aisle, Aric became quite insistent that we get Kellyn a Cinderella sippy cup.  I couldn't resist his generous spirit and we brought it home for her.  It's amazing how kids so young seem to instinctively know about gender roles and differences.

Our last area decorated for Christmas are the stockings hung by the chimney with care:

This year I ordered stocking from the Pottery Barn Kids store with Aric and Kellyn's names embroidered on them.  I had wanted to make stockings for the kids and even started one when I was pregnant with Aric.  Ryan gives me grief about it since I haven't come close to finishing it, but it's not turning out as I had hoped.  This year I decided to free myself from the pressure and get them nice personalized stockings.  Stockings that they'll be able to treasure for years and take with them someday, just like the stocking I took with me when I moved out.