Trimming Our Tree

Last weekend we had our whole Saturday planned out. We were going to pick out our tree from a cute farm where we could cut it down ourselves and let Ez run around while we took lots of pretty family pictures. But after driving thirty minutes the traffic came to a complete standstill and thanks to Waze we realized it would take over an hour to go the last 3 miles. So we scrapped that plan, headed back home, grabbed some Mexican takeout and came up with plan B, which was to walk 3 blocks to Food Maxx, buy a tree, and drag it back home in our wagon. No pretty picking out the tree pictures, no wielding a saw, and no running around a tree lot. But you know what? We got a nice big bushy tree for a very discounted price. And the boys seemed to enjoy watching daddy drag the tree home about as much as they would've enjoyed an actual tree lot.

Decorating the tree waited till Sunday because thanks to this being the biggest tree we've ever gotten we didn't have enough lights. One trip to Target later and we were ready to go. We had our Christmas music playing, the kids dressed all festive, and I got out the new Lightning McQueen ornament we bought Ez awhile back so it could be the first ornament he put on the tree. I'm not sure if you're well versed in Disney ornaments, but they ain't cheap. And Joe and I are by nature thrifty people. For comparisons sake, I bought Joe a storm trooper keychain from the dollar bin at Target and tried to pass it off as an ornament. So what happened when we gave Ez his super cool Lightning ornament with actual working headlights? He took one look at it and had a complete crying meltdown. I don't know exactly what his problem was, but it seemed to hinge on the fact that the ornament had a string attached (because it's an ornament) and Ez wanted us to remove the string. Instead we took it away, moved on with the night, reintroduced Lightning later, after he'd gotten the hang of how ornaments work, and he put it on the tree without a second glance and moved right on to the next ornament. Now why all this talk of ornaments and cost and whatnot? Because the only ornament that Ez is obsessed with is...you guessed it! The $1 keychain. It's the only ornament he continually removes from the tree and carries around the house with him. Which just goes to show that kids always like the cheapest toy. ALWAYS. I should just return all his presents now and buy him a few more key chains. FYI, Ez has no idea what Star Wars is, but we taught him how to say storm trooper and it's the cutest thing ever:

Other highlights of our evening included Declan trying to eat the lights and Ez putting the star on top of the tree, a proud moment that he brings up no less than twenty times a day. He's obsessed with our Christmas tree and the "beautiful star" and I love it. One of his trademark things to say lately is "show me a Christmas tree" or "show me a star" and in case you don't speak Ez language, you are not actually supposed to show him those objects, you're just supposed to repeat the question to him so he can point them out. And since we have at least three Christmas trees and stars in the house, this game of toddler I Spy can go on for quite awhile. The magicalness of the holidays has increased tenfold since last year because Ez is so much more into it, his excitement is contagious. Declan is happy with all this festiveness as long as we're all gathered in the same place and he gets to watch big bro run around all giggly and excited. I have a feeling Declan will get the hang of all this holiday stuff a lot quicker thanks to big bro's example.