O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

A couple Saturdays ago RD picked up our beautiful fresh Christmas tree. In the past it's been a family affair, but they're always tied up and hard to see, so the kids don't do much but stand around. They didn't say anything about wanting to go, except Aubree, who wanted to go SO MUCH! She was so excited for a tree.
When he brought it home he chopped/sawed off the end, with Bree and I watching from inside. He was very impressive with his man skills. As soon as there was no more flying woodchips (I kept telling RD that is a way to go blind, but he never did put on safety goggles, I guess he's too cool) Aubree ran to put her boots on and 'help' him carry it in the backyard to get a drink. She kept asking when we could bring it in, and kept reminding us we were going to decorate it 'after i wake up' from her nap. I was happy to see RD got a tall but skinny tree so we actually have some space in our living room, even though he loves to get the biggest one available. thanks RD! It's perfect.

Aubree LOVED putting ornaments on, and has a whole pile of them close together at the bottom that are hers. It was so fun to see her delight and excitement unwrapping and decorating the tree.

The other kids are actually getting old enough to handle unwrapping and hanging ornaments without causing anxiety on my part, or damage to packaging and glass. We have more than 2 big bins full of ornaments, so a lot of time was spent allocating the right ornaments to the right kids. I think this year we should just get each kid a smaller bin, and save the tears when someone can't find that special ornament till the end.

With the tree up, we decorated the rest of the house. Reese put up the nativity scene, and Aubree promptly took them all down to play with. It was impossible to keep her hands off them for the next few days, but now she only takes the baby Jesus away to play or sleep with sometimes.
It's pretty cute.