Christmas countdown
Elliot and I finally managed to put the christmas tree up yesterday. It was always my plan to have it done on December the 1st, it might have happened earlier if Elliot's harping had made any inroads. Though his cajoling did manage to make P move the unassembled tree and decorations upstairs last Sunday.
I tried to get to it Monday and Tuesday but by the time I got home and fed the pets, fed Gabriella and started dinner and watered the plants and then went back out to pick up P (who is doing late evenings this week) I was much too tired. Plus we spent Monday and Tuesday evenings assisting Elliot with completing his 30+ christmas cards for his class mates.
I decided several years ago not to get a fresh tree. After tree shopping in Toronto I can't bring myself to find a tree of equivalent quality in Australia plus I really don't want a tree to die for the sake of decoration. Instead I bought a lovely bushy tree that passes for a Canadian Christmas tree and every year since I have taken great care in packing the tree and the decorations away.
As Elliot has become older each year I have noticed that he has become more interested in the decorations I have collected and it was fun last night for him to look at them one year later and remember which ones are old and to give him the new ones to put on the tree first.
I feel like I am doing the right thing now - my attempts over the years at trying to create some family traditions of our own, not my mother's or P's parents - ones that are P's and mine for our children - I think it has started with something as small as the christmas tree decorations but we will have time to build on it.
If only I could get P to stick with smoked salmon scrambled eggs and imported champagne for Christmas breakfast every year!
posted by Amanda @ 12/02/2004 09:40:00 pm
3 comments
3 Comments:
Great tree! Hasn't Gabriella tried to touch all of those beautiful decorations?
I really don't know if I can do a tree this year. Harry is such a handful, I'm worried the tree will topple over every day (or every hour). I'm contemplating whether to put it up inside a playpen.
Lucinda
Exactly what I was thinking just before I put it up when I remembered all the battles I had with Elliot when he was a toddler. I recall trying to put all the unbreakable ones on the bottom level.
This time I wondered how I could create a barricade around it. She saw it first thing yesterday morning had one good go at manhandling all the decorations she could get her little paws on while my husband defended our decorating efforts. Since then so far so good she hasn't gone near it again - I wonder how long that will last?
"...I have noticed that he has become more interested in the decorations I have collected and it was fun last night for him to look at them one year later and remember which ones are old and to give him the new ones to put on the tree first... I think it has started with something as small as the christmas tree decorations but we will have time to build on it."
That's a really lovely point - even at 23 I still love putting up the tree with my mum, we have heaps of ornaments my younger brother the Boy Wonder and I made when we were little (mum is a hard-core hoarder), including a demented looking angel he made in kinder that goes on the top, and plenty of other ornaments with stories attached (ie. 'Oh, remember when your cousin nearly choked to death on this one?!').
Decorating the tree is an activity that even melts my twisted little heart :)
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