OH Christmas TREE!

I was starting to feel a little bad for leaving the craptacular weekend post up for so long. We've been so blessed since then and I should have changed it long before now. Our three girls are making this Christmas quite magical for us. Their spirit is very infectious. We put our Christmas tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I have always had to have my tree "JUST SO" and I was determined that this year would be no exception! What do I know? Not much. I was very maticulous in decorating the tree and allowed the girls to help place ornaments exactly at the proper designated location! It turned out beautifully! AH! My tree! Then, I started feeling a wee bit on the guilty side because I knew that even though they thought the tree was lovely, they would have liked to been more a part of the process. I probably should have got a swift kick in the pants. So, I decided to put a tree up downstairs just for them. We decorated our music/toy room with a bunch of old goodies that I've been saving for ages. I put up the old charlie brown tree and realized that I didn't have enough ornaments for their tree.
I decided that we (me and the girls) would make paper chains for the tree and they could decorate the individual chain pieces however they like. We used stamps, markers, glitter, stickers, you name it! We made a chain over 6 feet long and it was lovely! We each made a link with our name on it as well. I think it's going to be one of those things that I am going to have to keep, but I think we will make a new one each year. We spent all afternoon on Sunday making it after church. We were probably down there for a good 4 hours. I thought for sure my three year old would get bored and wander off, but she was probably the most excited about it! They loved it and it turned out great.
Over the past couple of weeks I have noticed that "MY" tree has undergone a couple of transformations. The ornaments are mysteriously being moved from one place to another and we now have candy canes all over it. I have decided that it makes it even more beautiful and I will let them "fix" "my" tree as much as they like. Even as an old bat, I am still learning. Thank goodness for that!
We put their stockings up as well, which is a completely new thing for them. They check them every day in hopes that Santa has snuck in our house and left a goodie for them even though it is not Christmas. Maybe he will start sneaking in on the twelve days of Christmas and start leaving them a treat! I'll have to ask Daddy about that one. :)
Speaking of Daddy...one of his mates from work has a Santa suit that he is loaning us. Cary wants to dress up for the girls and I think that is wonderful! I can't wait to get some photos of that!!
In the meantime, here are some photos of our beautifully decorated trees. :)
Merry Christmas!