our faux pas

We used to have a little 3 ft tree we used for Christmas. It served us well for many years, but when we moved to AK we left most everything behind, and that was included. So, for the last 6 years we've gotten live trees. We loved it, the smell, the beauty, having a tree in our house! Even the spider or two was worth it. But, they aren't cheap, and now that we own our own house, and can hypothetically build storage, we considered a faux tree. Reese was pretty adamant against it, and the other kids weren't too happy, and we went back and forth on it a lot. Fake trees can be put up longer, have stronger branches to hold up heavier and more ornaments, and are cheaper in the long run, but have to be stored, and are fake. We ended up getting one, but hemmed and hawed about taking it out and putting it up. SO finally, as the kids kept asking when we were going to put a tree up, it was here, so we put it up. Guess we're going faux.
The kids love to put on ornaments, but every year it has been a bit stressful having at least 1 kid break boxes or ornaments in their haste and excitement (not naming names, but looking at the youngest). This year nothing got broken! And there was no stress! The lights were already on the tree, and we successfully opened all the boxes! Sure, Bree threw the packing paper for each ornament around the room, and brought out the wrath of others as she tried to rearrange their ornaments, but overall it was actually very enjoyable.
It was kind of shocking, but I could get used to it.

I was so inspired, I even let her help decorate the house the next day. She  even helped me make a garland, stringing two of the pom-poms herself. It was pretty awesome.