Putting Up the Chris Tree

 This year is the first year that I let Ainsley put up the Christmas tree with me.  I was gonna just do it myself and surprise her, but Sean told me he thought she'd like to help.  I'm so type-A that doing it myself was the only thing I'd considered.

Xander: Mesmerized

While Ainsley took her nap and Sean was at the store picking up the ornament hangers I needed but couldn't find (of course I found them right after I finished putting up both trees), I put up the tree and the lights.  I have a system, and I figured it'd be easier to do those steps without the "help" of Miss A.  I let Xander sit close to the tree as I put the lights on...he really enjoyed looking at the lights.

Ham with a capital H

She loves her ornaments.

Ainsley was hamming it up with the ornaments before we actually started decorating.  I was trying to get a picture for our Christmas cards.  Ainsley and ornaments seemed like a sure thing, but that was inaccurate.  These cute pictures are two of about 15 that I took.  It's getting more and more difficult to catch her!  She's not looking at the camera because Sean was getting her to be supacute, so she's looking at him.  Of course, because I couldn't catch the pictures, he declared me a photography failure.  I invited him to take the pictures himself.  To my relief, he had similar difficulties.  It's nice that he isn't better than me at *everything*!  I did get a good shot that you'll get to see in the final Christmas card.

Hanging the lion

 This year, we have shatterproof ornaments to hang.  The day after Christmas last year, Sean, Ainsley, and I (technically Xander was with us...in mah belleh!) drove all over Fort Wayne buying the things we needed for a new tree that wouldn't choke or kill the kids.  It was difficult to say goodbye to our adult tree.  I loved the silver and gold ornaments--at least they've found a good home at Jill's!  Plus the whole safety thing is kinda important, I guess.

She LOVES these two.

Putting up the tree took F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  I had to open all the ornament boxes and had to put all the ornaments on hangers....which was more time consuming than I though it would be.  Ainsley really enjoyed playing with the ornaments.  Someday, I'll blog about the extent of Miss A's mini-OCD for those of you who haven't seen or experienced it.  For those of you who have, you can only imagine the joy she experienced when she was presented with tons of items that were similar in either size, color, or both.

Placing her ornament booty in a line on the table.

While Xander hung out downstairs with Sean, A and I got to work.  Well, mostly I got to work. It ended up taking us about 4 hours to put all the ornaments on the tree.  Part of the time issue was Ainsley's collection of the ornaments.  She gets her OCD honestly--and when I hang ornaments, I do so in a particular fashion (also, shut up Sarah and Erin!  I hear you teasing me!).  So, doing the tree with Ainsley this year was my Lesson in Tolerance.   As I'd get out the red sparkly icicles, Ainsley would grab four or five and run away with them. "SPARKLES!" she'd scream.  Finally, I figured out that if I wanted what she had, I needed to bust out a new color or type of ornament to distract her.  She'd then fixate on those ("GREEN ICICLES, MOMMY NOW!") and I'd get the remaining few I needed to decorate.

The finished product.

I got artsy with this picture.
I took it through the tree.

Every twenty minutes or so, I'd have to go find her stash--the place in the purple chair that she tried to hide ornaments.  Apparently, my ingenious method of getting her to give me ornaments was my playing into her game.  When I wasn't looking she'd go back to the tree, remove the red sparkly icicles and stash them away. This was an elaborate game we played for a REALLY LONG TIME. I'm ok with it though.  The tree turned out pretty nice.  It's till missing something--I'm not sure yet.  But we have years to add to it and figure it out.

Chris tree hugs

Now, every morning, Ainsley wakes up and gets excited about her "Chris tree!" It's adorable to hear her talk about her Chris tree.  The day after we put the tree up, she insisted on giving hit hugs and kisses.  Every day she inspects it--meticulously touching each ornament.  The Chris tree is very important.

"Here you go, Mommy"

Of course, once she had the hang of putting up a Chris tree, she then became an expert.  Last night, we put up the minitree in the basement.  As I got out the tree branches and put them in piles, Ainsley ran around helping.  She was very interested in putting the branches up (after all, this was a step that she slept through in the big tree).  As I went to get the lights situated, Ainsley took it upon herself to start decorating the tree with garland.  Xander looked on as Ainsley hung garland.  I think, for a first effort, she made some interesting decisions.  She was particularly proud.  When I took the garland down so I could put on the green and blue lights, she was frustrated for a moment, then used the opportunity to put the garland back.  That was a particularly fun moment for her.

Showing off her handiwork.

Seahawks tree

I think it was in putting up the Seahawks tree that Ainsley also started to understand the concept of Santa.  We have a Santa Seahawks ornament that she fixated on.  She was carrying it around talking about Santa. She continues to enjoy looking at and touching the Seahawks tree.  I think a part of her likes it better because it's small like she is.

Falling asleep in the jumparoo

 I recognize this post has been pretty Ainsley-heavy.  So in the interest of showcasing little Mr. Xander, I submit two photos for your perusal.  When I went to take a picture of the finished Seahawks tree tonight, it was pretty late, Xander was having his usual fit of "I WILL NOT SLEEP," so I put him in his jumparoo.  Where he jumped and squeeeeed to the imaginary dolphins in his head and jumped some more.  Then he promptly fell asleep.  I tried to get a picture of his sleeping, but by the time I got over there, I'd made a noise that startled him awake.  I then considered letting him fall back to sleep and getting my picture anyway.  Sean gave me the "I don't think so" look.  So, you can only see the cuteness from the back of his head!

Happy little bug!

To make up for the missed shot, check out this ultra cute smile he shot at me while I was putting the lights on the tree.  That's his new thing, by the way--giving his momma the "I'm too cute for words" smile.  Works every time.