The little guy I care for is 20 months now and he is totally into gluing things right now! So this year we decided to glue some things together and make Mom and Dad some Christmas Ornaments. I love taking photos of my little guy so we dressed him up in his Sioux Jersey, grabbed his hockey sticks, helmet, skates, and took some cute pics for Dad. And for Mom we put some angel wings on and pretended to fly. He had fun gluing the feathers on most of all.
So after we made these special ornaments I realised that there is a new fad now..."perfectly decorated Christmas trees!" Most of the houses I have been in this holiday season have trees that are very different from my tree at home! A lot of these trees have perfectly matching decorations, looking like they came straight out of a department store window. I understand that these trees do look amazing, but where is the sentiments? Where are the homemade children's ornaments, or the decorations from your great grandmother that were passed down from generations? Do people not do this anymore?
I had the honor of helping my parents decorate their tree this year as well as my own and to me it wouldn't be Christmas if there weren't those special ornaments that make us stop and reminisce on the past. My mom still cries every time she hangs my preschool ornament with my picture inside it! I remember decorating our tree growing up, and it was so much fun! We always did it as a family and listened to Christmas music. It may not have been prefect, but it was meaningful and we all share those memories today. And after all isnt that what is most important? The time spent with those who we love rather then the look of our Christmas tree.
Tell me parents.... do you let your children help? I have heard of some houses doing two trees, a children's tree and a "perfect tree." Is there too much pressure to have everything looking great around the holidays? Are we loosing traditions because of our need for perfection? What do the kids do with their proudly made homemade ornaments?
I totally agree with you Sarah! I love having all the homemade oranments on my tree! I also love going to my parents house and seeing all the ornaments I made as a child. All I did to our tree was put the lights and the garland on. 3 of my 5 children put every single ornament on! and it looks absolutely beautiful! I also like to put up the art projects they made at school or that we make at home. During Christmas my mom would decorate a whole wall full of all our Christmas art we brought home from school. Its always fun seeing that stuff. Those ornaments you made with that little guy are sooo cute. His parents will love them i'm sure! :) Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
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