Sunday, December 16, 2012

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Holy. Moley. Have you ever tried setting up a Christmas tree with the help of toddler quadruplets?

My parents have some home videos of us setting up the Christmas tree when my siblings and I were little. There is one memorable scene of my Dad, me, and my brother Mike standing in front of the finished tree while my Mom recorded us. My Dad said, "Thanks to the kids for helping to set up the tree. They turned a one hour job into a three hour job!"

While I always found it pretty funny...oh boy, do I get it this year.

We started by moving one of the two couches in our living room out to the garage for the next couple of weeks. We needed that space for the Christmas tree! The kids danced around that extra space all morning until we brought up the tree base after lunch to get started on the festivities.

Ellie and Elijah carefully examining the tree base.
Christmas Tree Base for a Real Tree

"Mommy, why is there a TREE in our living room?"
Setting up a live Christmas Tree

Once Daddy secured the tree into the base, and Mommy and Daddy got the lights up, the real exploring began.

I don't know what this kid was thinking, but Caleb carefully licked each different colored light to see what they tasted like. It was a very scientific experiment with the same four lights being tasted multiple times for comparison. Was he expecting candy??
Licking Christmas Lights

We then brought out the Christmas ornaments. I quickly realized that ornaments with small plastic parts should probably be put back in the box. Poor Superman is now missing an arm. Also, porcelain and glass ornaments = not child friendly. And then Caleb demonstrated that those basic multi-colored plastic balls aren't indestructible either. I think he managed to bite into three or four of them...but hey, at least they are cheap, right?
Breaking Christmas Tree ornaments

And, oh yes. The tree did fall over at one point. It just up and tipped over. Like it was the end of the season and was tired out. Thankfully, we only had a few ornaments on the tree when it toppled and the kids weren't close to it, so it was a very uneventful "first tip" of the season.

The question now is how long will it take for the kids to be the direct cause of the tree falling over?

But once everything was straightened out, the decorating continued!

Daddy and Elijah

Mommy and Ellie

Mommy and Abby

Daddy and Caleb

It took awhile to get our ornaments up because the kids pulled roughly two ornaments off for every one ornament we got up. While we started with ornaments all over the tree, by the end of the day, all of the ornaments had migrated to the top half of the tree. It really looks hilarious!

Ellie really was so helpful though! Some of our ornaments are glittery and with all of the extra hands helping to unpack them, they shed a lot of glitter on the floor. Ellie very sweetly took care of the mess herself by using her bunny lovey to wipe up the floor. Then, of course, the lovey went right back up to her face, her thumb popped into her mouth, and we suddenly ended up with a human Christmas ornament running around our living room!
using a lovey to clean up glitter

One more thing, I think I might need to pick up a tree topper on clearance after Christmas. Apparently we don't own one and this was the best I could do. It left Sean speechless. Hehe!
chicken Christmas tree topper

15 comments:

  1. I can relate! It took as so much longer than I expected to get our tree decorated, mostly thanks to the twins continuously taking down everything within their reach lol. But I sure do love my tree that is in disarray, the garland hanging down on one side, leaning dangerously to the left, and the random handmade ornaments from the kids. It reminds me how blessed I am. But I'm hoping the twins are a little less helpful next year lol!

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    1. Haha! I always have one eye on the tree to make sure it stays upright, but it does have a sort of childish charm with it's lopsided string of lights and very uneven ornament distribution! I love your perspective on it! We are definitely blessed!

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  2. It looks like you all had a ton of fun. You are making some great memories. I love letting the kids help...it is one of my favorite memories making activities each year. This year they had some many questions about each ornament is was even more fun. Plus we were able to begin adding more ornaments. They know not to mess with most to them. ;) I think the tree topper adds character. :)

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    1. I'm glad to know that I'll be able to bring out some of our more breakable ornaments in a couple of years! It is such a fun family activity! And I love that your kids were so involved and inquisitive this year! Fun!

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  3. Awww! This is precious! Your family is so adorable. Personally, I like that tree topper - it has character. lol

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    1. Hehe! Thanks for your vote of confidence on our tree topper! I was laughing so hard when I threw it up there! LOL!

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  4. Funny post! Thanks for sharing your adventure. When my oldest daughter was 2 1/2 years old (now 13), she had the same response after each ornament was taken out of the box, "Whoa, mama! Look a bell, a star, etc!" Cherished times and cherished memories to say the least. Have a blessed Christmas with your family!

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    1. I know I'll be hanging on to these memories for years to come. I love how everything is so amazing and wonderful to little kids. We could definitely learn a lesson from them about living in the moment, right? :-)

      Merry Christmas to you too!

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  5. Love your sweet (and crazy!) world! Thanks for sharing with us!

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  6. We put ours up on top of a small table so that it's out of reach of little hands. I have enough things to say "no don't do that" too, my voice doesn't need the extra stress of a tree. Good luck!

    Mary

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    1. Haha! Thanks!

      We had a table tree last year, and decided to go a bit bigger this year. I was all ready to use our superyard play gate to block the tree off, but so far so good...I hope they continue to keep their hands to themselves! Lol!

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  7. Looking good you guys! See you Friday!!!!!

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    1. Friday?? Are you coming into town? You should call your brother and let him know! I'm sure your nieces and nephews will want to see you!

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  8. That is a hilarious tree topper. We have not had our little ones help us decorate yet...next year. I love all the cute photos. I can see why it takes much longer...but is also more memorable and heart warming.

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