Decorating the House

Before we began to decorate!

We decided to setup our tree last Sunday night as a family. This year, Jasmine is the perfect age for this! We have 2 trees in the house, one in the basement and one in the living room. The living room tree is mine, it is the fancy tree with all the matching ornaments. The downstairs tree is the family tree which has all the special ornaments we have collected thus far in our marriage and as a family.

Jasmine and the first ornament placed on the tree - this year's Mount Vernon Ornament!

Jasmine was so excited to set up the tree as she has been exclaiming everytime she goes into someone's house that is already decorated, "It's Christmastime in here!". She was totally into it and she was such a great helper. Daddy also helped which is special because when Lorne was growing up, he saw putting the tree up as a punishment. They didn't do it together a family with the soft lights and the Christmas music playing in the background. In my family it was always something we did as a family and so I am stressing that and trying to make it fun and painless for Lorne. I think he actually enjoyed it this year. He made sure that the tree wasn't bogged down in the front by spreading out the ornaments. He was also instrumental in helping Jasmine put the tree topper on top!

When we were done, we lit it and Jasmine was so mesmerized. She has also learned to leave the tree alone once it is up and hasn't been taking off the ornaments like she did last year. It is amazing to see her and how she views the holidays - it makes me young at heart and brings back the purity of the spirit of the holidays as I gaze into the beautiful eyes of my lovely daughter. Her excitement and wonder and joy fills my heart and makes me want to do everything I can to give her all the magic of the season.

Hanging the stockings by the chimney with care - in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there!

Phew! We are done!

The finished product - we did great!