Toddlers and Christmas Trees

Pin It Now! Toddlers and Christmas trees, just something about the two together that brings worry to us mom's. I hate to hear myself say NO over and over again to my son. I like to focus on what he can do by saying something like this instead "Wait, stop, lets try this" I like to save my stern NO's for when I really need them.
Yes, we have kid friendly ornaments on our tree that we let him play with during decorating. But "don't touch, just look" have become commonly used words when I see him reaching for the tree. He's starting to learn that its okay to touch the ornaments gently but not the lights and not the tree. I have a feeling one day he will turn into a pretty good "NO" negotiator like his father.

Meanwhile, my nice vintage ornaments from my great grandmother are sitting on the sideboard, in a clear glass bowl on display until little guy can be trusted. But that's okay by me, I can still enjoy their beauty without having to worry they will break.

I was planning on buying some Disney Cars ornaments, just for him because we are a big fans of MacQueen & Mater around here. I just never got around to doing it. Now the tree is here and the decorating has begun I knew I needed something for him that was just his and his to do what he wanted with. So I stitched these up in a jiffy.

My materials:

Felt

Glue

Glitter

And random product pictures. I cut these images off the huggies pullups packaging and a card board box some books came in from the dollar store.

I sewed the the images to the felt (you can use glue)

then topped off with glue & glitter

add a ribbon for hanging.

Easy, simple and clustered together they actually look quite nice on the tree.

Little hands are all over on these and that's OK that's what they were made for!

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Real Christmas Tree vs Fake Tree

Pin It Now! As a child, I always had a real Christmas tree. When my mom was a child, the family would go on Christmas eve to pick out their tree and set it up undecorated. In the night, St. Nicholas and the elves would come decorate the tree and leave presents...this must have been a true delight Christmas morning. This year I want my almost two year old to experience,with most of his senses, everything a real tree has to offer.
picking it out
cutting it down
towing it home
letting it rest
decorating it
smelling it (hopefully he wont taste it)
watering it
cleaning up after it

There are lots of benefits to having both an artificial tree and a real tree. We own an artificial tree that we purchased after Christmas a few years back, on sale. Which is perfect for years that we spend holidays out of town with all of our family. Just because you own a fake tree already doesn't mean you must use it each year. This year we are staying put and love the idea of having a fresh cut Christmas tree in our little home. I cant wait until our home is encased in pine smell.

We are also helping out our local tree farmers buy purchasing a real tree. Millfarm Christmas Trees ...http://www.virginia.org/Listings/Shopping/MillfarmChristmasTrees/

Looking for a tree farm in your area..this is a great site! http://www.pickyourownchristmastree.org/

Here is a photo our our "Charlie Brown" tree. The only outdoor lights we would hang would be in the back yard. On this tiny pine tree that we could see while watching the fire (ah wonderful memories)
cause really why do we put lights on our house...for our neighbors enjoyment or our own?

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