Giving is as good...

On Christmas morning Haley was excited to dump out her stocking and see what she got. She was happy to play with the three baby farm animals that were in her stocking through breakfast. Then her sister came downstairs and suggested that we take a look at the tree. There is a curtain that closes off the entry from the living room and Haley's Grandparents had left it closed for privacy. We all gathered at the curtain and opened it.
 
I love the reaction that we get when Haley sees all of the presents under the tree. I know that she knows that they are not all for her, but it is still exciting for her to see so many.

She was pretty patient while we opened presents this year. She really didn't want to give anyone their presents though. She would pick up a present and look at the tag. If she recognized her name that was good. If she didn't she would hand it to me or her sister with a questioning look on her face. We would tell her who it was for and ask her to hand it to them and she would just grunt.

After having screwed up the present I was most excited about I did find a few good presents to give her.

I was kind of excited about giving her one of them.

When my Mom was here we went to Craft Warehouse.  I was telling her how I didn't really know what to get Haley.  I wanted to get her something that she would really be excited about.  Just then my Mom looked down and saw just the thing.  It was a print of the Daylight in the snow.  It was perfect.  I found a black frame for it.  I thought it would be a great addition to her room.  Her room is mostly decorated in horses, but I think we are about to transition it to trains.

I saved the framed print for her next to the last present.

She had gotten a Cars 2 book, a coloring book, a John Deere tractor and truck from G and G and some money from both sets of Grandparents.  My Mom had found a card with the Daylight on it that Haley really liked too. Then I handed her the print.

She did not disappoint.

She ripped the paper off and squealed.

It is so fun to give a gift that someone really likes.  There was no mistaking that she loved it.

It now hangs in a place of honor in her room.

Yeah, fun day!

The Holiday Express is a train ride behind one of the two steam engines that are housed in Portland. The first weekend this year it was pulled by the SP&S 700 and the second weekend it was pulled by the SP 4449.

Haley's Dad took her to watch the 700 on the first weekend. They had a great time together. They spent the rest of the day looking at the pictures that he had taken of it. Haley loves talking about the steam and the smoke. She still says that it smells good.

I found out later in the day that Haley and her Dad actually took a spill on a slippery part of the trail. She hadn't told me about that. Her Dad said that she was surprised and it looked as if she was about to cry when he laughed it off and made some jokes. Then she laughed about it too and they went on.

She was really excited about seeing the 700 running and kept talking about taking a train ride. Her Dad had to admit that we had tickets for the following weekend.  She even made him show them to her.  That was all she would talk about all week long. "Tickets. Ride. One, two, three, four,"  because we had tickets for each on of us.  Once she saw them she was fine. She was excited, but she never got upset like she has in the past when something fun doesn't happen fast enough.

So the next Saturday we got in the Yukon and headed out.  We planned to go early this year so that Haley could get her shopping done before the ride.  Her Big Sis needed to be somewhere right after the ride.  Haley enjoyed walking around looking at all of the merchandise they had on display.  She pointed at things and talked about them, but she wasn't picking things up or acting like she wanted any one thing.  I needed to speed it along so I asked her if she wanted to buy anything.  She was off like a shot picking up videos, calendars and t-shirts.  I had to push past a few people just to keep up with her.  I know she understands money and buying things now, but she was in such an excited state I was afraid that she would just fill her arms and head out.

She chose a calender of the SP 4449, a video (the second part of a series we already started buying her) and a shirt with the SP&S 700 on it.  I think she would have taken one of everything, but I had to limit her a little bit.  She also wanted a hot chocolate, but her Big Sis thought that maybe what she really wanted was the free cookie that went with it.

We got in line and listened to the volunteer explain about the engine and the trip.  Then we got to get on the train.  We chose a seat with a table and sat down and Haley opened up her bag of goodies to check everything out.  She had also picked up a brochure about Amtrak that she (surprisingly) didn't already have, considering how much time we had been spending at the Amtrak station lately.  There were brochures on the table when we sat down and she was quick to grab them and stuff them into her bag as well.

As we rode down the track we talked about what we saw out the window.  Her Dad pointed out the places that they had stopped along the trail to take pictures the weekend before.  He even pointed out where they both fell down.  Haley pointed out the lights and the ornaments that decorated the inside of the car.  Soon we heard the jingle of bells and we knew what to expect.  Santa and his elves came in to our car and gave everyone candy canes.  He stopped to take pictures with the children.  I asked him if I could take a picture of him with Haley.  I don't think that he realized she was a kid - she is getting so big these days.

We had a great time on the trip this year.  Haley still talks about it.  She says "Yeah, fun day!"

The Finishing Touch

After the girls left the house on Monday I got busy decorating the house for Christmas.  I decorate by myself.  I had two fewer hours this year than I have had in the past. 

I almost got done.

The problem is that I never decorate the house exactly the same way.

I take pictures of the decorations every year.  I have learned that although I enjoy being creative, when it comes to decorating sometimes I get frustrated and I want to get done quickly.  I took a first run at it and everything looked pretty good, but I wasn't happy with a few things.  So I looked at the pictures from last year. 

I had failed to take pictures of some areas, but luckily Haley had taken a few *cough* dozen - so I could piece it together.

You might think that I could just put things up the same way every year, but I can't.  The decorator in me wants to play.  I had to keep telling her that she didn't have time.  I am racing against the clock.  I usually like to decorate the whole house and have all of the boxes put away before Haley gets home.

I didn't make it.

I didn't even get the tree up.

Haley immediately knew something was up when the bus pulled in front of the house.  My husband had put the giant wreath above the garage door.  So she came running.  She saw the front door and said "Oooooooo!  Christmas!"

She proceeded to walk around the house looking at everything, pointing at everything and saying "Ooooo..."

I asked her if something was missing.  She didn't bite. 

"Do you see a tree?"

She walked around the house again.

"Do you think I should put up a Christmas Tree?"

"Yeah." she said.

I got the tree out and put it together.  She got out the star.  I explained to her that I needed to put the lights on it.  As I went through the lights to see which ones would light up this year she grabbed a set and left the room. 

Pretty soon I could hear her Dad from upstairs saying "Take those back down to your Mom."

She brought them back and then stood and watched me for a few minutes.  Then she went in the family room and put one of the Christmas videos in that I had stacked on the floor next to the TV.  I thought about putting them in the cupboard for her to find, but I figured we were in for a marathon anyway I might as well make it easy for her.

After I got the lights and the garland on the tree I had to make dinner.  I also know from experience that I cannot decorate the tree by myself.  Haley's Big Sis wants to do it, so I left it for her.

After dinner I sat down on the couch.  Haley brought me the star for the tree.  Her Big Sis was playing a video game.  She told Haley we could decorate the tree when she finished the level she was on. 

Haley left the room.

She had occupied herself by playing on the computer.

We came in to the room and Big Sis plugged in the lights.  I put on some Christmas music and we started decorating the tree. 

Haley had the star. 

We showed her how to hang the ornaments.  She put one the tree and and that was enough.  She wanted the star on.  I told her she had to wait.  The star perches on the top of the tree in a very precarious way.  It is probably the heaviest thing we put on the tree.  If we were to bump the tree while we were decorating it the star would fall off.  I knew that Haley didn't understand that. 

She didn't like to wait, but I know that if the star fell off the tree she would like that even less.

Finally we finished.

Finally the star went on.

I am still not done, but it is good enough for the first day.  I will work on the house some more when the girls are in school.

Then I will play.

I Blew It

What I don't understand is why after almost two months of school I cannot get used to the fact that Haley gets home at 2:00pm.

Remember a while back when I was so proud of myself for coming up with a great Christmas Present for Haley? 

Well, it arrived. 

I opened it, checked it out and set it down on my desk.

I realized that I needed to go upstairs for something.  As I got to the top of the stairs and saw the time on the alarm clock in Haley's Big Sis's room and realized that the bus would be here at any moment.  I ran back down the stairs and looked out of the window.

Sure enough, the bus was here.

After I got Haley squared away I headed back upstairs to finish what I was doing. 

Pretty soon Haley came up behind me all excited.  I turned to see what she was talking about and...

"SHIT!" I yelled.

Haley's eyes got big.  Her Dad yelled "What's wrong?"

I quickly backpedaled.  "What do you have there, Haley?"

"Daylight."

I told her it was supposed to be her Christmas present. I asked her if she was surprised.

She obviously loved it.

I said "Go show your Dad."

The rest of the day she walked around talking about it.   She kept saying "Daylight.  Cute.  I like it."

Her Dad just keeps laughing at me.

I deserve it.

Christmas Shopping Made Easy

Haley's Big Sis sends me an email each year listing in detail what she wants for Christmas.  The list is not long but, it is specific.  I appreciate that.  It makes my job easier.

I don't (usually) get that kind of help from Haley.

She doesn't really ask for anything. She is always happy to receive presents. She likes to open presents. She isn't picky.

She always likes new clothes.  She likes new videos.  Sometime it is easy, like when a movie comes out with toys.  Cars is a good example of that.  I got on EBay and bought every die-cast car they made.  I couldn't find them in the stores.

This year is different.  She has been asking for things, in her own way.

Haley gets catalogs in the mail that feature railroad memorabilia, t-shirts and model trains.  She likes to point out her favorites to me.  I usually make a comment about the picture or to be honest I usually just mumble "uh, huh..." 

I mean, she points to just about every picture, in every catalog many times a day, all day long, every day.

Now that she has earned the money for a t-shirt and a video from the catalogs it has changed a little bit.  After I comment she usually says "Nine Dollars."  Not everything in the catalog is nine dollars, but most prices end in .99 so to her that is what it means.

She especially likes to point out the model of her favorite steam engine, the 4449.  She tells me that it is nine dollars, but it is not. 

It is $499.00. 

I know that she wants it, that is obvious.  Little does she know that even if I had a momentary lack of judgement and bought it for her I wouldn't let her touch it.  That wouldn't work for her. 

She would want to touch it.  She would want to carry it in her purse.  She would want to sleep with it.

So the other day Haley was on the computer.  She was talking and she wanted my attention.  She wanted to show me something.  I walked over to the desk and looked over her shoulder. 

She was on EBay. 

She was pointing at a picture of the Daylight.  I looked closer.  It was a Christmas ornament.  It was pretty detailed.  It was about nine dollars.  I said "uh, huh...", distracted her, signed in to EBay and put it on my watch list.

This morning I found many of the same ornaments with many different prices.  I decided to bid on one and buy another.  I will put one away for her in it's original box.  The other one will be for her to touch.

To put in her purse.

To sleep with.

Christmas shopping made easy. 

Thanks, Haley.

Time Off

Winter vacation is winding down.  We have had a very nice holiday so far.

Haley enjoyed Christmas.  She was so excited to see some new presents under the tree on Christmas Eve, but she was obviously a bit disappointed in her gift.  She got pajamas, of course, and I think she was expecting something else.

Christmas morning was what she was waiting for.  She sat in front of the tree enjoying her "gift from Santa"  we always have one unwrapped present under the tree and this year Haley got a stable for her horses.  She loves to carry it around the house and put her horses inside it.

She loved her stocking surprises, she got two Hot Wheels cars as well as two miniature Schleich horses along with her candy.  I asked her what her horses names were.  The sounds she made became the horses names, one is Lea and the other is Ila.

It took us about a half an hour to open the gifts that were under the tree.  We were thankful that Grandma C had wrapped several gifts for Haley, because she just kept wanting to open more.  She tried to open some of her sister's gifts for her as well.  My Mom gave Haley a sticker book of horses, a beautiful wall hanging with horses on it and two Schleich horses.  Haley named one of them something that sounded like Elliot so that is it's name now, the other one matches a horse in the sticker book that is called a Shire Horse so that became it's name.

We gave Haley a Thomas the Tank Engine video set, a video about the Southern Pacific and a Shrek Christmas DVD.  My husband made her a calendar of some of his railroad photography and her sister gave her a really cool Toy Story 3 figurine set. 

She really loves her gifts.

We packed for our trip up to Grandma and Grandpa's in the afternoon.  The next day we headed north to visit them.  Haley got to do all of the things she expects to do at Grandma and Grandpa's and they both commented that she didn't seem quite as shy as she usually does.

They know what she likes and they gave her a DVD about the 844, another one of her favorite engines and a pair of socks with horses on them.  She also got some money, but she wasn't as thrilled with that as I expected her to be.  I am sure that will change when I tell her that she can go shopping.

The morning we were leaving I asked Haley if she was ready to go home and she said "Yeah, Shadow lap."  She wanted to see her cat, so I know she had enjoyed her trip, but she was done. 

We have been very lazy this holiday, which is nice. 

Will Wonders Never Cease?

I am just sitting here, quietly, contemplating how much my daughter has grown this year.  I don't mean her height or weight, though she has grown that way as well.  She has matured this year, her thirteenth year.

A couple of days ago we received a package from my Mom.  Haley loves packages.  We had to open it. 

Actually Haley's Big Sis grabbed it and started opening it, so I can't really put it on Haley. 

My Mom had wrapped the presents inside and labeled them, of course.  Haley can recognize her own written name now, so she new exactly which ones were hers.  She wanted to open them, but I told her that we were going to wait until Saturday.  "Saturday is Christmas Day, that is when we open presents."

That was a bit hard for her, but I asked her to put all of the presents under the tree.  She felt important doing that, so it was OK.  We have never put presents under the tree.  I was fully prepared to hide them if there was a problem, but they are still there.

She sits in that room next to the tree.  She sits in the chairs that flank the tree, or she sits on the floor in front of the tree.  She has quite a collection of toys that she has been playing with while she sits there.  If someone walks by she will point to the presents.  She says "presents" or "Christmas" or her version of "Saturday," which really doesn't sound much like Saturday. 

She hasn't opened them. 

I think if any of us were to tell her that she could they would be open in a heartbeat, but she is being very patient.  I think that she is showing a new level of maturity that I have never seen in her before.

We changed up the Holiday Season on her this year, first by having Thanksgiving here and having Grandma and Grandpa come to our house.  Now we are planning to go to their house after Christmas.  She knows we are going. 

For a while she seemed more excited about going to their house than she was for Christmas.  I have both occasions written on the calendar that hangs on the refrigerator.  She points to the days that are marked Grandma and Grandpa's House, but she hasn't been pointing to Christmas.  I have explained the timing to her several times.  I say that we are going after Christmas, after we open our presents.

I think she has finally accepted it.  In desperation about a week ago I actually put on the calendar the day that we would pack so that she would stop asking to pack her "case."  I think she has come to terms with the timing.

I actually think she gets it.

I am so proud.

The Year Without a Santa Claus

Spoiler Alert:  If you believe that Santa Claus comes down your chimney and puts all of the presents under the tree and in your stocking you should probably stop reading this post and go get yourself a nice eggnog.

Our Christmas Eve's go something like this, we have dinner and then we open one present each.  That present is almost always a pair of pajamas.  This is also a tradition that came from my childhood family traditions.  We put our new pajamas on and then before bed we read The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore.  I wrote about that tradition on this post.

A couple of years ago we added something to our Christmas Eve.  I rented a movie that had come out in 2006 called The Nativity Story.  If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. 

After we get our pajamas on we watch The Nativity Story and then we read The Night Before Christmas and then we go to bed.

I don't.  I put Haley in bed and then I go to church.

I play hand bells in our church choir and I always go to the Christmas Eve service at 10:00PM.  It is a time for me to truly reflect on why we celebrate this holiday.  It is a candlelight service and it is beautiful. 

I enjoy it. 

I hug everyone before I leave and then I come home and get the presents out from their hiding places in the garage and I put them under the tree.  I fill the stockings and then I go to bed.

Last year after I had made about six trips back and forth from the garage to the living room carefully, quietly placing the presents under the tree and filling the stockings I was coming in to the house for the last time when I heard a small sound like the coo of a dove...

I looked up and there was Haley looking at me over the low wall at the top of the stairs.  I smiled at her and then went upstairs and gently nudged her back in to her room.  I covered her up and gave her a kiss and closed her door.

I breathed a sigh and went to bed.

After the festivities the next morning Haley's Big Sis came up to me.  She gave me a sheepish look and said "I saw Santa Claus last night."

"You did?"

"Yep."  She said.

So the cat is out of the bag.

The Countdown Snowman

We have a Countdown Snowman.  Every day Haley puts an ornament on his Christmas tree and Snowman announces how many days there are left until Christmas.  Snowman starts counting at 25 days until Christmas.

Snowman was not out 25 days before Christmas. 

I didn't have enough C batteries so I opened the box and put Snowman in the garage and put C batteries on the grocery list.  I eventually got the C batteries and then Snowman continued to languish in the garage until recently Haley saw him and the jig was up.

We have a love/hate relationship with Snowman.  Haley loves him and frankly I think the rest of us hate him.

It's a cute idea, but imagine my child, who can watch the same video over and over again with a motion detecting sound making object.

To tell the story of the Snowman I have to tell the story of Rhonda.

Rhonda the Reindeer used to come out every year at Christmastime too.  She doesn't anymore. 

She was also a cute idea.  An idea no doubt conceived by a well meaning person who didn't have a daughter like Haley. 

Rhonda was a stuffed reindeer with wings and arms that moved as she played Christmas songs.  Rhonda was not a motion detecting sound maker. Rhonda was a sound detecting sound maker.  She would play more than one song, which I thought would redeem her, but unfortunately it didn't.   The kinds of sounds that would prompt Rhonda to break into song were loud noises like claps, dropping things on the floor, sneezes, coughs, yells and the like. 

Haley couldn't clap loud enough. 

No matter how she tried Haley couldn't smack her own hands together loud enough to get Rhonda to perform.  She tried, but I really didn't want her to hurt herself.  I clapped for her for a while, but then my hands hurt.  If Rhonda didn't start playing Haley would get upset and start crying.  If she cried long enough she eventually got into fit mode and then when she screamed at the top of her lungs guess what would happen. 

Rhonda would play.

The next step, which I am sure you could surmise was simply to scream at the top of her lungs.  Rhonda would play a song and then stop.  Haley would scream and Rhonda would play another song.

After enough of that to make me want to curl up in the shape of a ball and whimper, I got out two wooden spoons.  I taught her to hit the two spoons together.  Sometimes she could do it so that Rhonda would respond, sometimes she didn't, but at least her odds improved. 

One year I got one of those plastic clappers in the shape of tiny hands that Haley could just shake.  It worked pretty well.

The details are fuzzy, but at some point I stopped getting Rhonda out.  At this point I am not sure if we still own her, but I think we do.

So Haley has some memory of Rhonda the Reindeer and when she wants Snowman to respond she jumps up and down and claps and tries to make noise.  I have to show her again that all she needs to do is wave her hands in front of Snowman and he will count down the days for her, because it is motion detecting not sound detecting.

I put Snowman on the top of the refrigerator after she has listened to him tell her the number of days left until Christmas about ten times or so.  That used to be pretty safe, but she is getting tall.  I am afraid she can reach him.  She likes to put the ornaments on the tree and then take them off of the tree and listen to Snowman count up and down alike.

I wish I could find a place in this house that he could live where he might tell us the days until Christmas every once in while, not so much that we want to throw him across the room.  I haven't found that place yet, so I just turn him off.

The Night Before Christmas

When I was a little girl my Mom read The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore every Christmas Eve before we went to bed.

I didn't realize how important that tradition was until I was in college.  My freshman year of college was the first time that I had ever been away from my family.  The college I went to was not that far away from my hometown, but once I went to college I stayed there until Thanksgiving. 

I went home for that holiday and then I went back to school.  As Christmas approached I had a serious case of homesickness.  My roommate and I were feeling sorry for ourselves  and one night after we had gotten into bed and turned out the lights we started talking about our Christmas traditions. 

I told my roommate that my Mom had always read that story to us.  I can't remember why now, but I started reciting the story. 

I had it memorized. 

Word for word I recited the story like I had the book in my lap, but it was dark in our room and the book was back home.

The story has always been a part of Christmas.  I have read the book to my girls every Christmas Eve from their very first Christmases.  I can still recite it from memory so I can hold the book open to them so that they can see the pictures.

Last year Haley's Big Sis decided that she wanted to read it.  It was kind of hard for me to give that up, but I did.

Today we received a box from my Mom in the mail filled with wrapped boxes.  There was a copy of the book inside, it wasn't wrapped. 

We opened the book and I realized that it was the kind of book that you can record your own voice into.  I immediately thought that it would be so cool to have a recording of my Mom reading the story.  I turned a page, but there was no sound.  I thought maybe that she had expected me to record the story, which also would have been cool, I was disappointed though. 

Haley took the book. She has a couple of books that can be recorded and she started pushing the buttons.  Haley wanted to read the book so she started turning pages and that is when I heard my Mom's voice.  I was afraid that she had recorded over the first few pages. 

I asked her if I could look at the book.  I read the instructions.  It said that it works best in a room with good lighting.  I turned on the light and then closed the book and opened it again.  My Mom's voice told me that the book was a gift from her read in her own voice.  We turned the page and the story began.  We hadn't ruined it after all.

Haley has listened to the story, read by her Grandma many times this afternoon.  It is sitting on the coffee table in the front room and the lights are on.  She goes in to that room and listens to the story and then comes and finds me and says "Grandma read."  or "Read book."  She loves it.

So there is another tradition that has changed and changed again.

Thanks, Mom.

The Nativity

Another Christmas tradition.

When Haley was little I put out a small porcelain Nativity scene by Precious Moments.  I really loved that scene, it was a gift from my Mom.

Haley has always loved little figurines that she can hold in her hand.

The first time I saw her carrying Mary and Joseph around I decided that it wasn't safe.

Luckily at that same time Avon had come out with a plastic Nativity scene that looked just like it. I gave it to Haley and it has been hers ever since.

Every year I get it out and set it up somewhere that she can find it.

This year it is in her bedroom.

Over the years I have found each figure in a different place around the house.

Sometimes she sleeps with them.

When it's time to put away the decorations we go around the house and gather up her figures and box them up for the next year.

Change is good.

The Gingerbread House

Another Christmas tradition that has changed.

Our church has a wonderful tradition of making gingerbread houses together. We have a member that has taken on the job of coordinating the efforts to make the small simple houses on round cardboard bases. She has teams that make the dough and cut it into the proper shapes and then they use frosting to hold the pieces together. After the children's Christmas program every year people gather and pool together the candy that everyone shares to decorate their houses. It is a wonderful event.

We have gone a couple of years and the first years were fine.  We have great pictures and great memories. This was back when Haley's Big Sis did the decorating and Haley was small enough that we could just hold her, or walk around with her. When Haley got older something happened.

This beautiful event was all just too much for Haley, she has never done very well with crowds anyway.


I think the combination two events one right after the other without a meal in between didn't help. Haley was hungry and the only thing to eat was the candy. That is what she ate. We tried to get her to stop, but then she started spiraling into melt-down mode and since Big Sis wasn't done decorating the house we stayed and let her eat more.

Can you say Sugar Rush?

Then when we got home with the house she still wanted to eat it. I wanted to use it as decoration for a while, but it became too much of a temptation and had to have an early demise.

So we don't participate in this particular holiday tradition any more.

Chocolate Balls

Today we made chocolate balls.  My husband's Mom has made chocolate balls at Christmastime for as long as he can remember.  We enjoyed hers for several years and then we respectfully requested the recipe.

There is quite a process involved in making chocolate balls, it is kind of like a production line.  My husband and I made them together for years and then Haley's Big Sis joined in the fun when she was old enough.  This year Haley wanted to help too.

My husband measured out the ingredients that consist of graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, peanut butter, margarine, coconut and chopped nuts and Big Sis mixed them together. We gathered around our tall round bar table and began to roll the mixture into balls.  Haley stood there expectantly dramatically sniffing the mixture and proclaiming that it "Smells good."  Her Dad asked her if she wanted to help roll them into balls and she actually jumped up and down excitedly and said "Yeah!"

I took a bit of the mixture and worked it together so that it wouldn't fall apart in her hands and then I handed it to her.  As she started smashing it between her palms I got a little into my hands and showed her how to rub her hands together to form a ball.  She was using a little too much force so I made her another one and then I held her two hands and helped her to gently roll the dough.  When a ball formed I told her that she had done it and she place it on the waxed paper.  She was thrilled.

I asked her if she wanted to do it again and she said "yeah."  I picked up some more dough and out of habit I created a ball and handed it to her.  She immediately set it on the waxed paper, having judged it complete.  That became our process.  I would roll a ball for her and she would place it down next to the others.  She had a great time and when all of the balls were formed she wanted me to help her wash her hands.

My husband took the tray to the refrigerator and Haley opened the door for him.

Later after the balls had chilled my husband began the process of melting the chocolate coating.  Haley's Big Sis added the chocolate and supervised from then on.  Haley would come by now and then and check on the process.  At one point we needed a spoon and Haley went to the drawer to get one for us.  She really was a big help.

We had a lot of fun this year putting together our favorite Christmastime treat.  All four of us did it together. 

Yet another tradition has changed, for the better.

Christmas Traditions

Every family has traditions around the Christmas holiday, our family is no exception.  The exception is that our traditions have changed over the years.  I have already mentioned our Christmas tree tradition that has changed in this post and the fact that I decorate by myself.  There are some other traditions that have changed as well, I will be sharing a few of those over the next several posts.

Some families put presents under the tree before Christmas day. 

We don't. 

We wrap all of the presents ahead of time and hide them, then on Christmas Eve after Haley has gone to bed I put them under the tree. 

Haley must open presents. 

It doesn't matter if the present is for her or not.  If I wrap a present for any gift giving occasion I need to hide it immediately.  I know this from experience.  Haley has opened many presents that I have wrapped that were never intended for her. 

If I go to a party and bring a gift home that I have received I have to immediately take it out of the wrappings and hide them away before I bring it into the house.  If she sees the wrappings she launches into "Present, present, present." 

Actually, truth be told, Haley must open boxes.  They don't need to be wrapped.  She always wants to know what UPS brings even if I tell her it is only soap.  She has to see it.  I have several boxes that I intended to keep to store things in that have been unceremoniously opened.  So no unopened package is safe.

My favorite thing about Christmas morning when I was a kid was to come down the stairs and be blown away by the amount of presents under the tree.  I remember a few presents under our tree before Christmas day.  They were usually the ones that my brother and sister and I gave to each other, but all of the other presents were saved for that big surprise on Christmas morning.  We are keeping that surprise alive in our house, I think there is some value in that tradition.

O Christmas Tree

When Haley was small we had a real tree and we had lots of beautiful Hallmark ornaments that we had given each other as gifts since we were married. We had those ball ornaments that will break if they touch each other. The tree was decorated with cute little figures.  Haley loves little figures. She likes to hold them.  She reached for one and pulled and the entire tree came down on top of her, breaking most of those beautiful delicate ornaments.

So now our tree is small, simple and unbreakable.

We have an artificial tree that is about five and half feet tall and we decorate it the same every year. I bought three sets of unbreakable ball ornaments that are blue, red, green and purple with gold designs. I bought six golden crosses which are also unbreakable and a set of 12 plastic icicles.  That is all we put on the tree besides lights and a garland of sparkly gold.
 
I think it is pretty and the girls can help me decorate it; I don't worry about them breaking anything or putting an ornament in a wrong spot.  It is easy and simple.  It speaks to many compromises I have made over the years. 

We decorated the tree today. 

Haley got to help put the ornaments on. 

I have to guide her hand because she can barely hold on to the ornament let alone find a branch and then leave it on the branch. 

She put two on with my help and then she was happy to just hand them to me.

I like it when she feels like she is helping and she doesn't get stressed out because she can't do it herself. 

Our tree is also quick, I think we decorated it less than thirty minutes.  Again, no stress.

It's That Time Again

I decorate the house for Christmas by myself.  There are several reasons why I do.

First of all Haley gets stressed out when we get out the Christmas decorations.  She likes them.  She actually likes them a little too much.  She wants them all opened at once and then she wants them put where they are going to go right away.  She acts like she is having fun, but after a couple of hours at it she burns out and goes in to melt down mode.  I like to avoid that.

Secondly I get stressed out when Haley "helps" me (see above.)  I tend to put things in different places every year.  I usually have rearranged the furniture during the year or bought some new things.  If you were to look at pictures of past Christmases you would see vast differences from year to year.  So Haley wanting me to put things where they go quickly doesn't work for me.  I put things in place and then I move them around, it's a process.  One that I enjoy doing by myself, without stress.

Third, I love the reaction I get when she gets home from school and sees everything up.

I always choose a day that I can devote completely to the task, because I like to take my time.  I usually have about seven hours to take down and put away the Fall decorations and then get out, put up and rearrange the Christmas decorations and then put away the empty boxes.  I work right up to the last minute and then quickly vacuum and sweep and watch for Haley's bus.

Tonight I went out to get her and as we walked toward the house she said "Ooooh. Christmas."  She had seen the swag on the front door.  Then she said "Cute." when she saw the doormat.  As she came in the house there were a series of comments for everything she saw.  "Snowman. Santa. Ooooh. Cute.  Christmas.  Candle."  This year I got a new Nativity scene and I had it set up right on top of the mantle.  She went up to it and talked about the donkey and the sheep and the wise men and the angel and so on.  She decided it was cute.  She went around the entire house looking at everything and commenting on it all. 

I think she appreciates what I do and it works so much nicer this way.  No stress.