Every year, I have visions of decorating the Christmas Tree with my boys. Visions of talking about each ornament and their meaning and history. Visions of Christmas music and snow falling outside. Visions of happy children and parents. Visions of carefully snapped photos of the big picture and tiny details.
If you have studied Vision statements, you know they are something to aspire too. I'm here to say that my Vision continues to be just that. A Vision.
The reality is that Kellan is two, Oliver is five, Keith is a a supportive husband and I am a tad bit OCD when it comes to my visions.
Oliver was SO excited that he kept asking "When can we put on the ornaments? Why can't I decorate the tree yet? When can we put on the ornaments?"
Kellan didn't understand that the ornaments were fragile, he had to wait and he couldn't do everything "by self".
Keith saw the Vision clearly and decided to clean the basement instead with an occasional drop by to see if any help was needed.
I nearly had a holiday meltdown.
(insert Visions of a desired cocktail, here)
Every year, I reminisce about Christmas as a kid, myself. We would trudge though the woods to pick the perfect tree, which Dad would cut down and drag back to the house through the snow and cold. I'm sure that someone had a vision that this was sentimental I remember it as being cold and exhausting, but it is a memory that I cherish.
Every year, I am reminded how we would have to wait for what seemed like FOREVER for my Mom to start the decorating process. This included untangling the lights, checking that they worked, stringing the lights and stringing the garland on the tree, just so. I also recall asking my Mom, "When can we put on the ornaments? Why can't I decorate the tree yet? When can we put on the ornaments?"
Every year, I remember that I liked to put on the ornaments that I made or were fun and I remember gazing at the round ornament in the special box that was a wooden carving of a Christmas scene, complete with a choo-choo train. This was the ornament that Mom put on the tree. It was a special ornament to her. I never knew why but I always thought it was because it was SO nice and Mom wanted to keep it that way as it wasn't plastic, cloth or construction paper.
As I watched the boys fight over ornaments, play with them like toys, clump them on the bottom branches and finally break one or two I took a deep breath, remembered my childhood and opted to make lunch. (It's important to feed our family, especially if anyone is cranky.) I don't remember my Mom being upset that the Christmas tree wasn't "just so", I remember the time we spent ooing and ahing over the beauty of the process, the tree and the moment. That's what I want my boys to remember. So, we ate lunch and finished after we had full bellies and I had more patience. It's not about the tree being "just so", it's about making memories as a family. (I may or may not have adjusted a few ornaments here and there just as my Mom did with the tinsel after she said "be sure not to have clumps and spread it out" and it ended up in clumps and not very spread out. I always thought it was because she was taller to reach the top. Mom's are slick like that.) I cherish these moments as a kid and I want our boys too as well.
As we broke out the Christmas decorations, we pulled out a nativity scene that the boys got from Nana a few years back.They enjoyed playing with this while we were putting up the tree and fluffing the branches.
There is a star on the top of the manager that sings and it provided entertainment for the boys and the nativity characters.
Kellan liked it so much that he sang back to the star.
Next ups, we pulled out the snow globes. Kellan loved these globes and they rang out Christmas tunes all around. I guess we really did have falling snow and Christmas music.
Oliver was very careful with the ornaments and would pull them out one-by-one and put new hooks on the ones that had lost theirs the year before.
(he was devastated when an ornament fell off the tree, hit the ladder and shattered on the floor. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and it was just a red ball. It was a good lesson that we have to be careful and also put things into perspective. It was just a red ball.)
There was plenty of comic crack relief.
Kellan put a few ornaments on the tree and Oliver was great at teaching him how to properly hang them on a branch.
Oliver also explained to Oliver that you have to put some ornaments towards the back so that it's not a one sided tree. He is well trained and versed in the art of decorating the tree and finding the perfect home for each and every ornament.
Oliver always finds it fun to put ornaments up high with the ladder.
Thanks to lunch (compliments of Keith who passed through at the perfect moment), a deep breath and a new perspective there were smiles all around while we decorated the tree and put on the finishing touches.
While Kellan took a nap, Oliver and Daddy put the train around the base of the tree. Once Kellan woke up, Oliver couldn't wait to show Kellan how it works. It was a big hit!!
The next day, Keith was so inspired that he put the lights on the outside of the house and it was a festive addition to our weekend.
It's official, the Ham Fam is ready to ring in the Christmas season. The house looks great, inside and out and we had a valuable reminder that it's not always about how the Vision comes to life, but about cherishing the moments and memories that come with it and recognizing that the Vision may come to fruition, even if it's not how it was originally envisioned.
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