A Homemade Christmas

This year my husband told me he wanted to go up in the woods to find our Christmas tree and then decorate it with ornaments we made ourselves. When I heard this I thought, "Are you kidding me? The trees in the woods are Charlie Brown trees and I have a ton of great ornaments in the attic to use. Besides, do you know how hard it will be to make ornaments with a 2 and 5 year old?" But instead I said, "I don't want a scrawny tree and I don't think it will be fun making ornaments with L."

He talked to me about it again a few days later and I told him it was fine but he was in charge of getting it done. I must tell you, I wasn't at all thrilled about this and talked to my friend Kristy about it almost every time I saw her. For the record, she totally agreed with me.

By Saturday, I had convinced him to go to a local tree farm to get the kind of tree he always wants, a Noble. I prefer and always get a Douglas Fir. He hates them because the branches are too thin and weak and the tree is really bushy. I like them because that's what I grew up getting every year.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked the tree M picked out for us. It stands 9 feet tall and has plenty of sturdy branches. You can even hang ornaments close in by the trunk and still see them, it's amazing!

As for the homemade decorations, I was still not sure. We had already spent a few nights making some with the girls and had very little to show for it. I was convinced we would get to drag the ornaments out of the attic. We spent the remainder of Saturday making ornaments and actually got quite a lot made. The girls did a great job on theirs and I was impressed with how creative they were. We all had a great time.

M, K and I made some more ornaments Sunday afternoon and after dinner we trimmed the tree. M put hooks on the ornaments, the girls put them on the tree and I took pictures. They did a great job spacing out the ornaments and the tree looked beautiful. For those of you who know me, I did not feel the need to rearrange them to look more organized. That is quite the compliment coming from someone with OCD tendencies.

Now I realize that M had a great idea all along. I need to be less controlling and more open to his ideas. I let go, he took the reins, and everything turned out great. We all will have great memories for years to come from this wonderful experience.

M and L making ornaments.

My tree ornament.

K making her ornaments.

Daddy helping L hang ornaments up high.

K hanging ornaments.

Isn't L cute?

Here are some cool ornaments M made at work.

My favorite ornaments K made.

Favorite ornaments of L.

M was very creative making his.

Here are my favorites I made.

Our tree all decorated.

All lit up.