Trimming the Tree as a Family

We finally got our Christmas tree up this past weekend. I know, someone people are thinking "already?", but for us, the longer we can enjoy it the better!!

I love this time of year and I love anything Christmas. I look forward to when the radio stations start playing Christmas music, the stores are all festive, we can decorate the house and start wrapping gifts.

Putting the tree up is the start of the real excitment for the kids. They sat patiently as my mom put the tree together and my dad and I tried to get all the lights on our prelit connected. This took much longer than expected.

After much cursing and sweating we finally got the tree all lit. Well 85% of it, that will have to do for this year.

The little ones were so excited to get in there. This is the first that all 3 of my kids really get it. The littlest one even put on his Santa hat to get in there and get the ornaments on the tree.

My oldest, which I realized is on her 15th Christmas, gets quite nostalgic looking at all the ornaments. When she was a baby I started to buy a new ornament every year, and I continued this tradition with my little ones.

The kids love opening all the little boxes and wrapped pacakged looking for the ones that are theirs. I have to admit, as years have gone by and so many have accumulated over the 3 kids that there are few that I can't quite recall belong to which kid...ooops!

The arguing was kept to a minimum as the little one placed all his on the bottom branches, the middle one tried to put on as many as she could and the oldest tries to make it perfect. To me, no matter where they put the ornaments the tree would be perfect because their little hands made it that way.

So with the tree up, the stockings hung and some other decorations around the house. I truly feel the festive season has begun for my family.

Tomorrow we introduce The Elf on the Shelf... wish me luck!

It's Parade Season!!

It's that wonderful time of year already! The stores are starting to fill up with Christmas items, the malls are bringing out the Christmas trees and the Santa villages, houses are starting to light up with Christmas lights and every town is getting ready for their Santa Claus parades.

Santa Claus Parades are the pivotal point in this season when kids actually get excited. They see the big man in the red suit with and the excitement kicks in.
The bands, the clowns, the bright floats with their Christmas music and cheerful float riders are always so thrilling. No matter how many parades you go to, you still get excited, even as an adult!

My kids don't get to watch very many parades as they are in so many because of their baton club. But I tell ya, they still get so excited to be a part of the fun!

This weekend is the first of 4 parades that my girls will be in. Barrie will be celebrating their Santa Claus Parade this weekend as well, Saturday November 19th, at 5pm.


Some parades taking place this month....
Newmarket,Bradford and Barrie - Saturday Nov. 19
Orilia and Toronto Sunday Nov. 20
Innisfil - Sunday Nov. 27

HO HO HO!!!!

Christmas Traditions

December is here and in full swing, although the weather outside isn't frightful things inside are starting to look delightful.

At my house most of our decorations are up, we will be putting up the tree over the weekend.

A few years ago we bought an artificial tree, just to be used that year as we had a one year old running around and thought he might get in to everything, well that one year old just turned four in November and we still have the fake tree. I don't mind it actually, less clean up at the end of the Christmas season, no needles to vacuum up and clog up the canister, no fighting with it as we carry it up the stairs from the basement. Just pull it out of the box and decorate!

Speaking of decorating... its a process at this house! My husband, is a perfectionist when it comes to tree lights. How it usually works is, I take the tree out and set it up, we leave the room for a few hours while he puts the lights on ( no wire showing and every branch with lights on it), then we all come together as a family and start to decorate. The kids love looking at the decorations as they put them on.

Every year I buy my boys a decoration according to their interests that year. So, for my 7 year old we have everything from Bob the Builder, Little Bill, Hot Wheels, Darth Vader and Indiana Jones! If I can find a Lego one this year he might just fall over! I hope that one day when they have their own trees and they are putting it up with their families, they will look at their box of "childhood decorations" and it will bring back memories for them.

Whatever your Christmas traditions are, its nice at this time of year to think back and remember our own Christmas memories as children. We can pass them on to our little ones and hope they will do the same with their children one day.