Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere!!  Please feel free to stay a while and take a look around.  Unfortunately I can pretty much guarantee you that my blog is far more decorated for Christmas than my house, but I hope you feel welcome.

My 6 sons may have already eaten any treats I was going to serve, but if there’s anything left, the treat table was filled with decorated sugar cookies, my mom’s famous chocolate covered cherries and my specialty, eggnog lattes or mint mochas (yum).

This year I’m focusing a little more on traditions.  Why we do them and what they mean to us.

In what seems like a lifetime ago our Christmas traditions have changed and grown to be quite different from when our oldest son was a baby.  Of course, the difference between having only one child versus six is huge so it’s bound to create a different atmosphere and traditions as you go.

The tree was always beautifully decorated with our first four sons.  There was never a year that the traditional ornaments didn’t come out.  Sure, it was a challenge to keep toddler hands out of the tree and the bottom half of the tree was still always decorated with the more kid-friendly ornaments that weren’t nostalgic or breakable.

Now, my wonderful 2 year old Twinkies (otherwise known here as Monkey and Bugs or the Twinadoes) have changed quite a few things.  It is not uncommon for our tree to be … well … bare on the bottom 4 feet within 24 hours of the initial decorating event (yes, it really is an event around here).

This year, the Twinks have added a new trick (one that really does scare me a bit) … they are removing light bulbs from the tree.  Yes, I am talking about plucking out the individual light bulbs from the strands … ugh!  I have never seen such a thing!  Let’s just say that we have a pre-lit artificial tree that won’t be pre-lit by the end of the season *sigh*.

The top three feet are still beautiful though (I thought the blurred picture was a pretty effect, and since I don’t have any special ornaments I went with it )!  We DID have a lot of fun stringing the cranberries and popcorn (even if there is only one strand left – the Twinadoes strike again).

I will likely do what I can to make sure that the sections of the tree that are currently no longer lit will again be shining for Christmas morning and I will also re-decorate the bottom half of the tree for the kiddos for Christmas morning.

The boys had tons of fun starting yet another new tradition this year … one that my hubby grew up doing each and every year … making a Christmas wreath.  This is an amazing and simple project and they all got involved.  From collecting the pine branches and building the (rather large and wolly) wreath on the back deck.  It is so large though that the cute little bow I made for it is totally dwarfed, so as soon as I finish getting it properly decorated I’ll add a picture for you all to see, in the meantime to the right is a picture of the goings on whilst making said wreath!

Looks like we’ll quite possibly have an even more exciting Christmas decoration this year anyway!  Yup, snow.  If I had pictures, I’d show you the heirloom ornaments that have always been on our tree, especially the one that my hubby tied my engagement ring to when he proposed to me and the fun little one we purchased while on our honeymoon in Maui (it says “Just Mauied” LOL).  But alas, since we are only using ornaments that are simple and safe this year that will be saved for next year!

Through all of the little variations on old traditions, I just want to say that sometimes, even if the changes are unintentional and may only last for a couple of years (they won’t forever un-decorate my tree right?), there are still ways to make it memorable and keep up with the traditions that mean so much to your family ….. or to start new ones, even 15 years down the road.

I hope that you’re enjoying this beautiful season and all it has to offer!  Are you starting new traditions this year?

Related posts:

1. Snowland at Great Wolf Lodge Finding fun family activities this time of year that don’t...
2. New York – Day 2 My second day in New York was filled with events...
3. A Relaxed Mother’s Day I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day!   All...

This entry was written by Shera on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Blogging Events, Events and Holidays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.