Oh Christmas Tree My Christmas Tree!

On December 5th, my kids and I took some time in the afternoon to put up the Christmas tree.

Our Christmas tree is artificial – a slim tree which doesn’t take as much place as a regular one.  This year, we opted to put it in our dining room which had more place than the living room.

Having kids that are a bit older is nice because this year, I asked Alexandre my 9 year old to put the tree together and spread the branches while the younger siblings were napping.

Then once the younger kids woke up, we tackled the tree.  

Having the kids to help now is extremely nice.  I don’t feel stressed or pressured anymore.   And they enjoy it so much.   Even my soon-to-be three years old participated eagerly and was VERY careful with our ornaments.

As much as I would like to have lights in our tree, it has been a couple of years since we put some in it.   The reason is very simple.   One set of the lights has only the red and blue that comes up.   Somehow the green has stopped functioning.   And personally I don’t like having only one or two colors in our tree.  One of these days I will be new lights but not this year.

   Here’s the final result of our tree this year.    As a tradition, only dad can put the star on top of the tree.   This star has been part of my youth believe it or not.   But it is still nice so we continue to use it every years.

The decorations in the tree comes from old Christmas and new ones.    We have a mix of ornaments from our younger years as well as new ornaments that represent our family.

 

As comic fans, we had to have some well-known characters in our tree.   Batman, Robin, Superman, Spider-man, Ironman, Wonderwoman, Catwoman, Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy as well as the Ewoks have joined our older collection of ornaments.

 

 

I also painted some.    A lady leaded a fun activity a couple of years ago at the church we were attending and I went.  Honestly, I wasn’t too sure I would be able to paint something but it turned out quite nice and I cherish this painting very much.

Also in our Christmas tree, each kid has three special ornaments.   One being a Christmas ball with picture of them during their first year of life (one as a baby and one a bit older).   My daughter Jasmine was born on Dec 19th so her older picture is about a year later which was her second Christmas.   Also each child has a Baby First Christmas and Grandchild First Christmas in the tree.   Having four kids, that makes 12 special ornaments in there.   Other special ornaments are also included in the tree like our new house, our dating ornament, as well as two special figurines for our wedding year.

Intertwined with Christian ornaments, there are Christmas balls.  Most of them I made myself one year with glass balls and paint.   It gives a marble style to the ball.   Another one that is included in the tree is the ornament on the left side in the picture below.  This is an older Christmas ball that used to be in the tree at my parents house.   Somehow, this one is my son Alexandre’s favourite.   *grin*   It is very different than the ones I made…

Other decorations are around the house.  But this year, I took out my LEMAX small collection of houses.    I’ve decided to put it on the mantle above the fireplace.    One of these days, I would like to put it under the tree like my mother-in-law.  

Voilà! – That’s our Christmas tree for the year.  

Merry Christmas everyone!