Last year, if you remember, I saran wrapped my Christmas tree to store it. It was a wonderful idea, I thought. It made the tree skinny, it kept it protected and when we opened it this year, it did not have a musty attic smell to it. I will ALWAYS saran wrap my Christmas tree.
Plus the children had so much funny, unwinding the tree!
It was a race to see who could unroll theirs the fastest!
Then after we unrolled, we set the tree up. It was super easy, just attach and plug the lights in. All finished. Everyone helped puff the branches and then we were on to decorating with ornaments.
They do much better now that they are all older and you don’t just have a bunch of ornaments at the bottom:)
In our home, we only had one tree so we change who puts the star up every year, going in birth order. We always joke and say that it will be another 9 years until you put the star up again—-and if you move out or get married–you forfeit your star hanging place:)
This year it was back to Collin and he got to put the star up. He probably will never get to again…unless he is home for another 9 years.
Then we moved to the downstairs and decorated that tree.
Lauren was up next and got to hang up the star. 
She is a little “shorter” so the downstairs tree worked well for her:)
It was a nice time having everyone hang their ornaments. This is the only time that all the ornaments will be on the tree in a set place. I am sure we will have multiple play toys come visit and cart off some of my bulbs and or climb into the tree and knock some off. It is good, I keep the nicer ornaments at the top out of reach, the bottom ones are okay. Just relax and enjoy. These moments create memories that you will never forget.
I think this is the earliest that we have set our tree up in a long time. We did this before Thanksgiving. I am happy and it has started our Christmas fun rolling. Have a blessed rest of your week and hopefully you can get out some of those Christmas decorations and place some out. But if you are a Mom with lots of little ones and the thought of a tree just stresses you out, talk to your husband and see if he will opt out of a tree this year. There were many years where it just spelled STRESS to me. I would literally put it up a week before Christmas and the day after, it was back down. I get it, routine and normal worked best in those days. Now life changes and it gets easier.
Make it about the memories and the fun. Don’t worry so much about the perfect tree or the perfect cookies or the perfect gifts. Just enjoy the moments and forget the details.
Less Stuff for More Life
Yes, our ornaments never stay there either. They are way too creative of children to have the ornaments be just hanging there to look at 🙂 Too fun & tempting sometimes! By the way, Lauren is so pretty and I LOVE her shirt!
I just had a homeschool gathering at our home and one of the Mom’s commented, “Wow your tree looks so perfect!” I had to laugh and say that it was only because my daughter took off all the ornaments and rearranged them last night at 11 pm!!! Yes they are WAY too tempting:) Lauren smiled….she has two light up sweatshirts that she likes to wear to make people smile:) We tease her that if she goes out in the rain…she is going to short circuit:)
AND it lights up?! I didn’t even notice. Ok, now I’m even more jealous 🙂
Cute cute.
I love your trees…and it is so nice that the children take turns putting the star on top…makes it very special to do it that way. I have to say, I have not put up a tree in a very long time…I keep saying, “next year I’ll do it”…but, when the time rolls around (we used to always put it up on my birthday…Dec 11), I cannot bare to think about doing it, without my hubby and our baby daughter…I still miss them every day…it’s been a long time now since they passed…going on 25 for my hubby and almost 45 for our baby. I don’t know that I will ever be able to do it, but I am so happy seeing others putting up their tree…I do have a Nativity Scene though and I do bring it out and set it up…my hubby made the barn for it and all of the pieces came from a trash dumpster…I repainted them…I love them so much…oh, one piece came from a dear, sweet neighbor, who is gone now…she gave me the 3rd Wise Man, that I was missing. The animals were made in Italy and I bought them at a gift shop…my Mom bought me one from the same gift shop too. So I do treasure it the most. Blessings, love and hugs, Amy…your videos and blog are always inspiring and comforting.💖🙏💖
This is a beautiful story, thank you for sharing:) You are such a strong woman…always posting encouraging messages, I thank you.